It supports countless small experimental projects that build internal support from the ground-up and launch quickly in prototype to gauge user reaction.
Sometimes HTC also throws in some super bright colors to get some feedback from focus groups, and one time it even had a "you've got to be joking" reaction from carriers over a recent pink prototype.
He came and showed me a prototype of the device last May, and the reaction to a short video we made showed how much untapped enthusiasm there was for some kind of successor to the BBC Micro.