Speculation, but perhaps it has more to do with the change in their business model? They're no longer emphasising the pitch to consumers, or the phone companies that supply them, but rather aiming to supply nations with a strategic interest in not being under the ambit of the American tech giants. I guess that could reduce the fear of being undercut by (probably Chinese) clones, and move their focus towards creating a transparent and reliable common core - Sailfish properly so called - perhaps with custom (closed source?) layers on top for different markets...