Licensing
Why is it that big a deal to make a reader that will easily read either format?
Commercial song and dance, industry competition, proprietary technologies (in this case the software, maybe), license agreements.
if the mechanical and electronic internal hardware is nearly the same, I don't know if they are, then it is a software issue that could quite possibly be easily addressed.
These new media technologies are worth billions of dollars long term, it'll turn into a real mud wrestling match before it's over.