Hi,
this one if for all the admin staff, financial people and project managers. Do you use your software only desk calculator on your computer often ? I use it very rarely and only when unavoidable. Actually, I use the google built-in calculator more for computations. Or even command line only versions running in xterm, such as expr. Why ? First off it the calc software does not normally run on my desktop as I don't really need it often. Secondly, on laptops the number keypad is often an overlay ontop of the qwerty keyboard. It is awkward to switch inbetween.
The beauty of a desktop calculator is the number of dedicated keys just for their purpose and with a little bit of practice they are blazingly fast to use. Additionally, most slightly more advanced calculator can do some form of programming to store formulars and conversion functions easily accessible.
The only thing I am missing is the ability to cut-and-paste between the desk calculator and the desktop. Plus I could think of various cool things that can beef up a standard calculator when attached to a comparatively fast desktop or laptop. For example more sophisticated display in conjunction with the dedicated keypad of the desktop calculator that shows the history of calculations. And you can take the calculator away to your colleague and upload the numbers whilst discussing their implications.
I think a simple calculator with bluetooth facility backed up by a slightly sophisticated program on the desktop that interacts with the calculator will be very popular. At the age of iphone it already makes one wonder if a subscription based desktop calculator that you can purchase addons to through an e-store might be interesting.
It could be useless but fancy things like skin's and special softkeys. But also mathematical extensions such as resolver, optimiser and other programs. Spinning this further, how about a barcode scanner on it and start integrating it with a database as a universal low cost scanner for your shopping trips ?
Google found Casio as the only manufacturer that built a base version.