In the brief skim I did before my eyes glazed over, I got the impression the market this camera is aimed at is studios (or portable studios) where the subjects need to be photographed consistently and in industrial quantities. The blurb specifically mentioned school photos, and medical/forensic work. I can imagine certain catalogue work would fall under this as well.

In which case, being able to lock down the camera to specific functions would mean you can almost form a production line style of photography. Wheel the item/child/cadaver in, focus, shoot, next please.

there are already tonnes of barcode identification APIs available.

Yes, there are. I don't see this camera being taken up very much at all. It really does seem like a product that's aimed at a niche in a niche market.