The cynical side of me says that it is a plot to sell hardware to people who otherwise wouldn't buy it.

The more honest and even more cynical side of me says that vendors are under more pressure to deliver buzzword compliant products than they are good ones, because PHBs are better at recognizing buzzwords than quality. Therefore SOAP is better than CORBA because it is a newer buzzword, and also allows them to use the XML buzzword along with all of the attendant marketing-speak.