I'm gonna go out on a limb (how unusual for me !) and go against the grain a bit. I kind of feel that it makes sense in a way. Maybe not totally, but certainly in a way which is synonymous with the way that us OS X users love using keyboard short cuts for almost everything. Fine, I don't speak for everyone but.. since having switched to OS X, I use keyboard shortcuts for SO many things within the OS, and I think it would make a lot of sense to integrate a dedicated keyboard for mapped shortcuts..
I think this may be sort of a test, and that they may develop a much larger scale keyboard for when Chrome OS is in full production. I personally feel that keyboard shortcuts enhance my level of productivity when I'm sitting doing work, whether that be online, or in an system application.
I can also guarantee that if Apple had put this product on the market, with different functions, everybody would be calling it the next step in evolutionary computing on the Mac. I don't really see anything so bad about it, to be honest. There are plenty of programs/apps which utilize proprietary keyboards for a more efficient workflow. This one just happens to be a tad redundant and near sighted... but it's a good start, I think, should they continue on with a user customizable keyboard for Chrome OS etc..
Doug