It may get a lot of negative comments but I think it's interesting something like this still exists, a custom piece of terminal hardware, that hasn't just been eaten by some iPad app or web app.
It's not a custom piece of terminal hardware. It's just like Excel or other software that you run on your computer. There's also a version that runs from a browser plugin, which is what I use when I'm running Linux.
IMHO the reason it hasn't been turned into an app is to justify its price. Psychologically, people will pay more for hardware than software even if it does the exact same thing.
It has been turned into an app, they don't even sell terminals anymore. The keyboard, monitor, and biometric unit are just accessories that you plug into your existing computer, which aren't even necessary to use the software. This makes the shittyness of the keyboard even worse IMO, because they are trying to push these expensive, unnecessary things as a superior experience to the keyboard you already own. It's blatant marketing bullshit.
In music, there's the iLok. In finance, there's the Bloomberg terminal.
It's the data that is difficult or impossible to get. I'd love to see what people did with access to the data, but there is no reason for Bloomberg to give away their huge advantage.
A lot of data you get through Bloomberg is repackaged from other sources. As far as I know, I don't use any Bloomberg proprietary data but there is a lot of data that while is not proprietary, it is essentially locked into Bloomberg due to the messaging platform. Pricing data for fixed income securities is a good example.