Well ...
it ain't a case of "if" it is true...
The CEO stated it.
They "are" changing their direction.
and he states the why of it ..
And it makes complete sense...

The company like many other high profile and successful companies ...
has made their big financial successes from being at the forefront of innovation...
Not from struggling to grab a piece of the pie.
But from creating a pie and owning virtually the whole damn pie and getting the majority of the profits from it ...
at least until the rest of the herd catch up and figure out how to undercut, or offer competitive, or even more the innovative function to the "new" thing made by the initial innovator...

This recent announcement is no different than BB deciding to get out of the OS business and just make devices...
Nor any different to M$ getting out of the OS business...
Nor Nokia getting out..

This is just symptomatic of the disruptive phase of the evolution timeline of the devices and OS's ...
It is inevitable..

The proliferation and flooding of the markets with more and more cheaply made alternatives ...
mean that the initial leaders of the pack are sanely bowing out before it becomes a monstrous financial loss trying to compete with ever increasing costs, diminishing returns and inevitable losses...
...to pursue other more potentially lucrative avenues that will give them a return on the investment to pay off all the cost for R+D, study, design, wages, marketing, revamping assembly and production ..etc...that they invest in...

The immediate loss will be most keenly felt by those who need known long-held to be reliable...stable devices for their particular needs ...
for example ....as posted ...those who relied on Sony devices for Sailfish.

This isn't a rare example occurring ...
This is a norm that will be seen by virtually all the big names...

Expect Samsung, LG, and all the other big boys... to bow out as well over the next 10 years...

Expect there to be instability in the realm of smartphones for sure...
and it won't end.
Not with the departure of the big corps and their stable lines of devices gone...

Such "shifts in direction" by the forefront of established and stable industry ... doesn't make it easier for alternative OS's or communities to properly function..