I read this mostly as a fluffy piece urging Google to consider targeting the enterprise instead. That's a fine option, if Google had strong integrated business services already. I'm not sure that it does - not at the level of Microsoft, anyway. Consumer is where Google can play the game and where it has a strong foothold, and we've seen that strong consumer penetration gave Apple a strong entrance into the enterprise market (I see a lot of organisations adopting iPads).

I'm not so sure about its claims about Asian manufacturers likely to turn out market-winning low-priced devices, either - I've been considering picking up a made-in-China tablet for a while, and the prices aren't so much better than the Nexus 7's $200 (a dual-core would be $100 or more right now). And as you point out, Google cares about having tablets run Android, not about profiting from the hardware. What are all the Chinese manufacturers loading on their tablets? Android ICS, essentially without exception.

I do think having an official, well integrated keyboard would be very beneficial to the tablet's ecosystem. That's where the Surface wins - I can almost see it as a light laptop replacement. The writer is certainly correct in painting this as important.