What's to say better software and algorithms won't be developed as a result of IBM's push to find new use cases for Watson? The article goes into great detail about how Watson has already contributed to the current AI landscape. I for one love that IBM's relocating Watson to a university where students will get to interface with the machine.
Haters gonna hate.
Watson's hardware was not revolutionary; it's software was. Most super computers have far better specs than Watson. Watson's deepqa algorithms are currently the best in the world. These algorithms can be applied to many industries (like medical diagnosis).
IBM has been around for a long time, and it is doing fine financially. IBM offers business products; if you have a data center, you're most likely own IBM servers. IBM also offers awesome software solutions for businesses.
I am extremely pleased IBM used Watson for PR promotions; it showed the general public the current capabilities of AI.