I don't think it's that bad a feature actually...
@Dave Fox
I'm pretty sure you can restrict access to Airplane Mode via BES.
@nichomach
If the tab was locked to a carrier, it would be remotely administrate-able - your IT admin could remotely wipe it. As it isn't (yet), Blackberry implement a feature where it slaves emails from your wipe-able Blackberry. This is the part I thought should have been obvious to OP.