I disagree, I think they tried making a color e-reader and were completely taken by surprise by it's popularity, although in large part due to the modding community.
I think the design team that made the Nook Color knew what they were doing. That had to, it is just enough power to be a tablet in every area.
I think this team sold the design to B&N by saying "you will be able to use off-the-shelf phone and tablet parts, so in the long term costs will get very low."Then once B&N released the NC they were caught off guard by how popular it was as a tablet.
I completely shocked the manager at my local B&N when I showed him my Nook Color. He chided me that "rooting one invalidates the warranty, you should have waiting for the April update." My response- " I would have never bought a Nook Color if it wasn't the ability to root it, I will probably never read a book on it ever"- left him speechless.
In a way, its perfect that it is B&N behind this because even if they WANT to lock this thing down they don't have the ability. The Sony's of the world would already be suing half the internet trying to put the horse back in the barn, but B&N is just riding the wave.
My opinion is that if my one extra sale helps give them the critical mass needed to better pitch their platform to publishers I am glad to help. But if they were depending on me to buy a book or two to turn a profit then they will end up in the same boat Microsoft was when I bought a first gen XBox for XBMC......