Obviously nobody has to buy this product but we can always hope for better, especially from a highly touted brand like Apple.
Personally, I like to stick with 1st-party accessories and Apple products have always been so well designed. Apple-brand accessories are almost always the best option, with the downside that they typically cost considerably more than alternatives. I’m willing to pay more for a higher quality item, unless it’s functionally inferior to other options.
I still have my Magic Keyboard order and willing to give it a try but more and more it seems like it’s a very, very different product from the Smart Keyboard Folio, which I’m happy with. IMHO, the MK is a “stand” meant more for those that keep their iPad on a desk and occasionally use it on their lap. If you need to use it off the keyboard, such as in portrait mode or playing some game, you take the iPad off the “stand”, then have to physically go to wherever the MK is located to use the keyboard again. If this is perfectly acceptable, then this is a great product for them.
The SKF objectively has a lesser keyboard and obviously no trackpad, but has a huge advantage. It has the ability to always be with me, albeit somewhat cumbersome when it’s folded back, but a perfectly fine experience.
I feel Apple could have made a case to mimic the MS Surface, where the keyboard/trackpad would fold out just like the SKF, being able to fold to the back, and the part that attaches to the back having a hinged, infinitely adjustable, stand just like the one build into the Surface. However, this would be considered blasphemy...unless Apple did it first.
I look forward to receiving the MK and am open minded to it being worth it over the SKF.
