For the light bulbs the temperature of the filament effects the lamps lifetime and the efficiency. So while it is possible to make light bulbs that last longer, they would also consume more power or give less light. The 1000 h life time may be a reasonable compromise between the costs for a new bulb every now and than and the costs for the electricity. In later times with the cheap bulbs the 1000 hour bulbs were likely a little on the cold side and a bulb running hotter and lasting only 500 hours may have been more economic.
Getting a standard for the bulb life, made the bulbs more comparable and this way even helped competiotion and consumers. So while they may have had bad intentions - the result was more like a good thing.