To be honest, even if the Batwave was mandated by corporate, the toy company, or anybody else--it makes perfect sense in the world of The Batman.
Think of it as a mini, personal Batsignal. There's no Batsignal on top of the police headquarters, and if there were, it only be an attempt by Rojas to arrest Batman. There's no Oracle to tap into police signals and give Batman a head's up via comlink, either. So of course he'd have a device to alert him when something bad is going down!
As for those complaining about a Bat-image flashing on the device, do keep in mind that these are close-up shots of the Batwave for one, and that there is a long history of EVERYTHING Batman uses having an image of a Bat on it for two. Just look back at the signal--wouldn't it be smarter if it started out as a simple red light that flashed in the sky? Certainly it would have taken criminals a much longer time to figure out what it was for, and it would probably have helped keep up that "urban legend" angle that's being used in current comic book continuity.
And really. If we can believe that nobody can tell Clark is Superman just because he has glasses on; or if we can believe in a guy who dresses as a bat to fight crime or a guy whose skin became bleached white, his hair turned green and his mouth twisted into a horrible smile after falling into a vat of chemicals--well, I think we can muster enough suspension of disbelief to acknowledge that whenever Bruce pulls out that Batwave, there isn't someone looking over his shoulder and wondering "Why is there a bat on his computer?"
Oh, and I'd like to add that Alfred's dialogue was indeed cornball--but would have been much better served if performed in his usual dry wit. But ya know, nitpicking a single line of dialogue is just that--nitpicking. Not every line is going to be a classic, and that line hardly made my eardrums bleed. Even the worst piece of dialogue in the episode wasn't so bad as for me to even make a note of how bad it was.
And there were a number of very good pieces of dialogue too--the entire opening sequence, the first scene at the Batcave was exceptional, Batman & Joker's first encounter at Arkham (I love the fact that Joker isn't especially funny either--it makes me laugh more when he delivers a lame joke and goes "Ooh. Tough crowd!"), and that scene between Bruce and Ethan being another highlight for me.
Yes, Alfred's line "The police!" was overly dramatic, but so what? It was meant to make the little kids go "What?!" and ya know what? They did. During the commercials I was asked repeatedly "Who is that?!" So, I'd say that line worked for what it was intended to be, and surprised the kids when Ethan turned out to be Bruce's best friend.
If I nitpicked every detail of every television series I watched, I know that I'd enjoy them a lot less. Alias and 24 would both probably fall apart for me. "Why'd Sydney do that? You knew she was going to get caught at the cliffhanger at the end! And you *know* she's going to get out of this next episode! So why even give us the cliffhanger?!" etc. I mean, was the episode not solid? Does it not hold up? Did Batman start singing "Am I Blue?" for some highly underexplained reason? No? Then I don't see the point in complaining about a line or two that didn't ring true.
I'm not saying that nobody should point out bad dialogue when they hear it, I'm just saying that the dialogue wasn't that bad to begin with, and there seems to be a little *too much* dwelling on certain things like that.
I get it, it's the pilot episode, so we're all a little more critical than usual, looking at every little detail to determine if this is how the entire series is going to be--but I think we can all go a little easier on it, ya know? It's a pilot, and by definition had a lot to accomplish in that first 22 minutes--including explaining in very specific detail what the Batwave is.
If Alfred hadn't given the informercial lines, as some have dubbed them, then both the fans *and* the kids would be going "What does this Batwave do?!" And with kids, the *last* thing you want to do is make them confused. They might come back for the next episode, ya know? I'll take a little longwinded explaining over confusion and a drop in ratings any day of the week.
Besides, I'm a little longwinded myself! I guess that's one thing I have in common with Mr. Pennyworth.
--Larry
I'm still not crazy about the Batwave, but I can live with it, understand the need for it, and maybe even start to think it's cool. btw, 
