I can't think of a reason a dev server should be remote instead of on your machine, unless you're working with large, live data sets that you can't download...
Well, with web IDEs, the server is remote, isn't it ? The reason here was the same: easy to setup environment because every dev had the same server image, with same config, etc. I guess that's what remote IDEs have going for them. I think Koding.com markets this very very well.
Oh, I see. My teams have solved the same issue by having cloud desktops and using RDP/VNC to mirror the screen on their Chromebook/iPad/whatever. It's surprising how well it works on not-very-fast connections, and you get a very powerful machine on the back-end with a full, native IDE.