Joel Spolsky wrote a good article on this approach:

"Smart companies try to commoditize their products' complements."

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html

[NB Yes it's from 2002 but the basic rules of the game stay pretty constant]

Yes. Software company works to commoditize hardware, news at 11. (This has been MS's strategy since MS DOS days, as outlined in Spolsky's piece.)

Actually, it can be traced back to the Microsoft SoftCard. They made compilers and interpreters for CP/M, but they'd have to port them to run on Apple II's, which would be an enormous undertaking. Instead, they sold a Z-80 coprocessor for Apple II computers that allowed Apple IIs to run CP/M and, therefore, to run Microsoft software.

They tried that too with MSX, which made the front-page a couple days back.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7367544