I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way, particularly since I'm a guy who has average to slightly larger than average hands, so I can cover more real estate with my thumbs. I can actually do the same with the regular keyboard but not nearly as naturally and comfortably as with the split keyboard. The "Radial" app had it going and I wish that is a split keyboard format Apple would consider as a user-selectable option.
You can slide it to the bottom but not all the way, as when it reaches the bottom, it merges and docks again. Apple needs to fix that. I like having it there.
Michael "Spam, spam, bacon, eggs and spam. Hold the bacon and eggs." Sent from my iPad 2 using iPF