You know, I suspect Apple actually created this keyboard to do just what it does. It is alluring to the novice computer user who is, let's face it, the average person. He doesn't know how to touch type, he may not even know what the term means. He buys on impulse, basing his decision on how the product looks to him, and will likely never even miss the superior quality of design that comes from using a well-engineered device.
What's frustrating lately in the computer industry is this issue of who the companies are designing for. In the camera industry, we have companies like Canon and Nikon. They forge their reputations not with the cheap garbage cameras they sell to consumers, but with the finely crafted artisan tools they design for the demanding professional. What we have today are companies with no real high end products, that survive merely by leaching off of the unsuspecting masses. Microsoft has gone so far as to openly admit that this is what they do. Apple has typically had a high end, and indeed still does to some extent with their top-end Mac & MacBook Pros (arguably over priced, but of an undeniably high quality), but with the "lesser" devices they, like most tech companies today, merely manufacture "pretty" stuff that will be eaten up by the masses, but which is of no real value to the seriously demanding professional. Back in the day, Apple made the Apple Extended Keyboard II. It, like it's predecessor the original Extended Keyboard, did not actually come with any Macs! They existed solely for the serious people, the people who appreciated real quality. They had Alps mechanical key switches, they were sweetly clicky, and had the famous solid build quality that keyboards the likes of the Model M are known for. They originally sold for $163.00 each. (The Model M sold for $250.00 brand new back in the day) Apple no longer makes any devices like this. It's too bad. It would do them some good.
