Also, me not being a Mac user at all, it confuses me why people keep using the inferior external keyboards. I get that in the Macs or the MacBooks you make tradeoffs with things you do like, but if the external Apple keyboard stinks at being a keyboard, why not a sleek, functional Logitech device instead?
Suppose I'm saying, there's some shared responsibility, not just John Ive being responsible.
That is actually an interesting question worth thinking about.
I think that top Apple management (at least Tim Cook and Jony Ive) does not use computers that much. If they do, they connect exactly zero external devices. And they are definitely not "power users" who would appreciate function keys (or even the Esc key for that matter). Tim doesn't mind the annoying delay from Spotlight when pressing Cmd-space to search on an iPad (the system loses several keystrokes because of a silly pause), Jony doesn't mind the half-second animation when switching spaces on a Mac, which you can't turn off. They don't do these things often enough to matter, and they do things slowly.
Also, if Tim's keyboard starts failing, how quickly do you think he gets a replacement? I'd bet it isn't two weeks.
This is different from Steve Jobs, whatever you might think about him, he did love computers and he at least felt the needs of more experienced users.
I think the design failures of the recent Macbooks (and the trashcan Mac Pro) are a reflection of how top management at the company uses and thinks of computers.
They are, however, far too expensive. Even on sale, my Magic Keyboard with the numpad was more expensive than any sensibly-priced mechanical keyboard, and that’s beyond silly to think about.
Because many people actually like the keyboards, and they don't stink at being a keyboard.