They would have to be pretty darn cheap to beat out the USB Midi controllers people generally use now with things like Ableton Live, considering you can get something like this now for less than $100 that has the virtue of already being for sale.
It won't look half as cool with your Surface, though.
It might make sense from an industrial standpoint to replace a gazillion of those membrane pads at Micky-D's but as a consumer good? I'm not so sure.
You're right but I doubt that this is targeted at users who know what MIDI or OSC is.
If you're a professional there are a lot of better, established and thanks to Midi more configurable/hackable options available. However this might be popular among casual "musicians".
It won't look half as cool with your Surface, though.
It might make sense from an industrial standpoint to replace a gazillion of those membrane pads at Micky-D's but as a consumer good? I'm not so sure.