Firstly, it demonstrates that people are seeing the flaws inherent in touch screen technology. Rather than pretending that touchscreens are effective as word processing tools, or simply ignoring the business users who require keyboards altogether, the industry (at least, parts of it) is starting to respond to the consumer demand. What's also interesting is that the tech scene and mainstream media are getting excited about it both in terms of gadgetry awesomeness and genuine practical value.
Secondly, it's refreshing to see that effort is being spent on innovation rather than half-baked software workarounds. The supposed solution to the accuracy problem encountered by touchscreen users was originally an autocorrect feature, and everybody knows how that turned out. Now, money is being spent trying to bridge the gap between the touchscreen's sexiness and the keyboard's practicality. And we like that.
Thirdly, the unison of touchscreen and physical keyboard works both ways. It'll bring keyboards to touchscreens, yeah, but it'll also bring touchscreens to applications where keyboards have always been the norm. An ordinary cheap desktop keyboard might have greater levels of interactivity thanks to a dynamic display, or a TV remote could have a database of recorded shows for scrolling through.
Of course there will inevitably be teething problems and there's no chance the tech will be on the next generation of Blackberry handsets. For now, business users will need to buy a Blackberry or get a keyboard for their smartphone or iPhone. But this development bodes well for business users and those who require a physical keyboard on their phone.
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