I really have almost no spelling mistakes with my iPhone and I generally touch the wrong key, I have found the auto-correct feature awesome! Am I alone here? I actually had much more typos on a BB since it was "trusting" all my inputs (though this could be solved, haven't seen it yet - not that it doesn't exist).
I do admit that on a hurry I have left behind a few wrong auto-corrections but it's not like I never made a typo on a computer keyboard. I definitely would not call it a "gigantic backwards step" but I may be wrong...
The article is talking about passwords which makes auto-correct useless, but I also do a lot of stuff over SSH (SQL queries, UNIX commands, basic vim editing) and the ability to do so allows me to be farther away from my desk even on days when I'm responsible for tech support and diagnosing problems with our products/servers so accurate typing is very critical to me personally.
Aside from that (and this is purely anecdotal) I spend a reasonable amount of my time de-autocorrecting typos sent to me by people using auto-correct on their phones.
I also found in my time using a touchscreen keyboard (and, during that time I was not using auto-correct specifically because I wanted to train myself to be able to work without it for reasons mentioned previously) the lack of physical feedback and the fact that there was only one "mode" of touch (either touching or not touching) where as with a physical keyboard you have not touching, touching and actively pressing meant that I would continually make the same mistakes over and over and over, where as within a day or so of using a new physical keyboard I've adapted to it and my error rates drop significantly.
I do admit that on a hurry I have left behind a few wrong auto-corrections but it's not like I never made a typo on a computer keyboard. I definitely would not call it a "gigantic backwards step" but I may be wrong...