now it makes sense i can identify w your confusion because i used to see it the same way until it came time for my undergraduate project that my university required of all its hardware engineering students -- a private company forked over cash and other resources for my student group to create a display for the handicapped and they started calling it a commercial product even though it took another decade for it to be sold; but it made sense since they were using it -- and us -- to peddle it to manufacturers/investors a little bit like they do on shark tank.

the product was working and we had a makeshift factory to build them, but only a select group of buyers could purchase them and i've since learned that this is a common initial stage for many commercial products that end up being purchasable by either you or i.