I don't know that it's a good idea for complete system control. In fact it's probably a terrible idea. In North America the Beo1 was never available so I can't really speak to how it worked.
However, Apple also seems to think that a minimalist control is a good idea. At least this is true for Front Row, Ipod, AppleTV. But comapared to the Beo1, the little plastic Apple remote is not very interesting.
For me, the Beo1 is really just "eye candy," which is to say it looks nice.