You could say so. For he encourages Smith to assimilate him. What Smith doesn't realize at the time is the reason for his apparent victory over Neo. But in the Machine city, Neo's body receives...
As Smith assimilates Neo, The Machines send an electrical surge through Neo's body. All of the Smiths are connected, and in turn, destroying all the Smiths.
NOT QUITE AN ANSWER
I don't know why, from a historical perspective. Possibly because it's the simplest way to arrange the keys using the tone dialing scheme.
The individual keys' dialing tones are...