Everyone I know with an iPad Pro has the keyboard case. I hate the keyboard... but I can put up with it while travelling. I don't think the keyboard availability is an underlying issue, but I do think that people will balk at a $700/year license for something that runs on an iPad, because they feel like it's a toy, not a tool. However, the CPU is not what causes that; the CPU has more raw compute power than many Intel laptops that people do run expensive software on.

I want my iPad Pro to be a good workstation, but the reality is that will probably never happen. However, if Apple uses the same hardware to run MacOS, then it could happen. Yes, they would need to tack on some more I/O (or at least release a first-party dock) and RAM, but they could still make a very thin and fast device that would blow Intel laptops out of the water. I would not buy one of these because I don't really care for MacOS. (I use the iPad as my "laptop" because it doesn't really require any customization or maintenance. I have my SSH key on there, that's about it. I use it as a dumb terminal and it's great for that, but with the right software, it would also be a very capable computer.)