The other hugely important side of this is that a lot of these devices have the ability to transmit on frequencies which they may not be licensed for, or may no

The other hugely important side of this is that a lot of these devices have the ability to transmit on frequencies which they may not be licensed for, or may not be licensed for in all markets. The easiest example being b/g channel 13. You're permitted to use it for WiFi in most of the world, but not North America. Keeping the firmware proprietary and "secure" is likely an important part of their FCC/IC certifications.