Woo! 5.0 for Sony devices within the next few days. Just as I get a Z3 as well!
Just in time for 5.1 to be announced as well! Though a lot of the stuff that seems to be 5.1 specific is already present in Sony's customised 5.0 so really it is just the stability updates that need to be rolled in. Hopefully they do it soon since they won't need to change a lot.
About the job cuts mentioned above, the reason for them is what I outlined previously, Sony are moving the division to a high-end single board offering which means the development team will be much smaller since apps and builds only need to be optimised for one hardware platform per year starting from 2016 (Snapdragon 820 in 2016). All of their mid-range hardware is set to move to MTK boards and outsourced software/hardware with Sony branding and their app suite. Oddly this is a good move for SMC in the long term, though it is difficult for the 1000 people who are out of work from the end of this year it means the people who stay behind are on a much firmer footing going forwards and with a more focussed development plan updates should also be faster and more stable out of the gate.
Yoshida is making a leaner and meaner Sony, the process just started a year too late.
