From an economic perspective there is no difference between a product that can't do X and a product that could do X but it's not enabled or limited in some way.
Implementing logic in an ASIC which cannot be modified and implementing logic with an embedded processor where the software can be modified but this feature is disabled is the same thing. Both are intended to be black boxes that just do one thing and nothing else.
Yet for some reason you expect to be able to modify the embedded processor.