I'm taking a wild stab at it (sorry, CNN) perhaps military / government uses is not considered 'commercial'?
2 b : designed for a large market
OR
perhaps it meant that the invention was designed to be used in devices other than 'commercial', that is "consumer" devices, such as iPods, cellphones, video cameras, flash drives, etc. etc.
I think the differentiation is 'consumer' or 'commercial', much like you will see the notation on a kitchen appliance that says "NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE - HOUSEHOLD USE ONLY" (in otherwords, for 'consumer use').
