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From the company's point of view, it's possible there's a "good" reason for them to prohibit unauthorized third-party software. There are two ways to make a profit on devices: selling the hardware, and selling a platform. Selling the hardware means you want to get the actual device in as many hands as possible, and you don't care what they do with it. It also means you have to have a price point somewhere above the manufacturing/distribution costs in order to make a profit.
Selling the platform means you get the hardware in as many hands as possible, but use the platform to sell something else. Video game consoles use this approach; the manufacturers make money by licensing game developers to produce content and selling the content, they don't make much of a profit on the hardware. In fact, usually they lose money on the hardware for a while.
So, based on the statements about development and the huge number of expensive features they packed into the hardware, my guess would be that iRex is subsidizing the cost of the device by selling the platform - the newspaper subscriptions are one way to do that, and they might have other things lined up. So they don't want people doing something with the platform that doesn't make them any money, perhaps. Or perhaps they're worried about unlicensed developers competing with the licensed ones, making companies less willing to pay for the license.
Sony will probably go the same way, since they already announced their intention to sell content, and since that's the way Sony works.
In any case, it seems like the Hanlin device is going to be the hackers' choice, since Hanlin is probably selling the hardware, not the platform. They will be eager for people to buy the device for any reason, whether they're planning on just reading books, porting DOOM, or just blowing it up with explosives. That's kind of a refreshing attitude these days...
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