In the construction field it isn't unheard of for a company to open another company just to avoid or get out of agreements/liabilities they have under the "old" company. If I were to look Smartlabs moves, as an outsider, since being taken over and installing a new CEO I'd really have to say that their moves and motivation(s) seem now obvious. It's a huge move on their part...and huge moves come with huge risk, at minimum, with consumer acceptance.
If their new bridge is/will be compatible with the existing line-up of Insteon devices than they lower "some" risk with the existing Insteon user base since the listing price of their bridge is $40...and I think most of the casual users will, maybe grumbling, move to Nokia's closed system if that's the case.