Earlier quoted context omitted.
This makes a lot of sense for a use-case. Their proposed use-case of e.g. phones and tablets (see: already touch-enabled devices) makes me wonder... why use an inferior touchpad on a keyboard when you could just reach up and touch the screen to begin with? Especially with the things they're demoing: moving your cursor to click on something (just tap it) or scrolling (just... scroll normally?). I use a laptop with a "…
A lot of people don't want to take the time and/or lose the flow due to shifting the hands away from the keyboard and in particular orientation with the home row. The laptop approach of the touchpad close to and rigidly coupled to the keyboard is a big improvement as you can move thumbs from the spacebar and back without looking. This is why I use the internal keyboard even when an external keyboard would be otherwis…
But the thing in the post might be a better solution if both the keyboard and the touchpad work well. A great illustration of the classic principle: good design compromises in a contradiction, clever design eliminates the contradiction.