Yes, a break thru with Sony looked possible for like 1 day when Jolla sported the Booth logo and rumors went wild but it became apparent the next day when Sony stayed quiet on questions that they just let Jolla play with their hardware.

Nevertheless, i get asked multiple times a month where to buy a sfos device after i (still) show around trusty old Jp1 during small talk when i meet new folks. Awareness is zero, interest is high after much communication effort (yeah, bad from marketing aspect).

Also i hear from some people who abonedoned jp1 because auf low hw specs, could or want not get Jolla C and wait for sfos on recent spec devices.

Thats where the flashable image comes in.
It should be official with complete features and cost some 10-20€ so everyone mildely interested can get a cheap used XX and try.
There will be no breakthrough, right. Still new geeks want to flash, let them.