Excellent description. It's like the difference of peeing in a pool and an ocean, in a pool the water is mostly stationary so you feel warm longer than in an ocean where the current quickly replaces the water around you.
As for the ionic cooling, I believe its just an attempt at noiseless active cooling. The movement generated is the same as a fan but silent. So what will be better, a 120mm fan at low rpm's with 21dbs or a however small 'Ionic Breeze' clone pushing the same air at 0dbs. Fan: $8, Ionic cooler: $??
If the performance gain is comparable to the cost of the device, not to mention the cost of the heat sink it will be designed for, then it may be a viable solution.
As for myself I believe that cooling in the next 3 years will start incorporating peltier devices into aircooling heatsinks with some form of condensation control, other than coating components with a clear acrylic.