It's all speculation and I don't want to wind things up, but come-on:
Phase's senior execs aren't idiots. They wouldn't have made the very public statements they made and end up making both they & Leica come across as idiots unless they felt those statements would be backed-up by Leica. They were obviously wrong, but someone got their signals seriously crossed at the 11th hr regarding just how deep a relationship was going exist. What, Phase was going to publicly coerce Leica into a joint deal at the press podium?
The preceding also explains why no custom software - until the 11th hr 59th minute, Solms didn't realize they needed any.
As for Phase poaching S2 owners via C1 registration? The folks in Solms need to get a little more creative when they make up excuses to 'leak'. Lets see, Phase sends registered S2 owners an email offering a special trade-in promo. Ah, uh, um (insert head scratch) so? I mean, I would hope to think Phase is more pro than and quite frankly if the camera is any good, 99.9% of folks will hit the 'delete' button anyway. Also if they felt it was a lemon, they'd be yelling at Solms to take it back vs crystalize a loss via a trade.
Either someone in Solms is drinking their paranoid juice -- or some SERIOUSLY (and I mean seriously) ill-will now exists between they and Phase. Again, my guess is that after the debacle at the S2 release someone at Phase uttered (in Danish) the equivalent of "you'll see #$%^ C1 support for the $%^& S2 when $%^&* Hell freezes over...". Shortly thereafter the excuses started and a call was made to Adobe.
As for Phase crippling S2 RAW support - flattering for LUF die-hards, but as another thread discussed - pppleeeaaase....If Phase gave enough of a da*n, and were that petty and immature in their desire to give Solms one in the jewels, they're be a lot of M8/9 owners out there right now wondering why their files look so lousy after their last C1 update. All Phase and Hassy have to do to show the merits of having custom software in MFDB land is nothing - Leica' use of LR and the threads like this one that result do more for THEIR marketing than any malicious attack or viral ad campaign they could launch.
Again, all water under the bridge, and I wish Leica the best, but I really do wish Solms would stop the silliness of leaking absurd excuses pointing fingers as to why they took the course they did. Either cowboy-up and admit they and Phase had a spat (no one needs the details) and you had to look elsewhere, shut up about it, or get a bit more creative and professional in their public and 'leaked' (or at best behind the scenes ill-advised) comments re: competitors and their products.
The BS with Phase re: the S2 program, public comments from senior engineers about 'wasting money' on software-based lens corrections, etc., etc., - just makes them look immature, exposes them to backlash-- and creates animosity between them and Hassy/Phase. Animosity that achieves nothing other than earn childish giggles from fanboys and create ill-will between them and Hassy/Phase. Ill will they may regret later. Let the S2 program stand on it's own merits and put a muzzle on the silliness.
Well said Mark.
There were other reasons as well to the breakup of Leica and Phase One besides the conflict of interest on software registration. The claims from Phase One agents and dealers at Photokina (hours after the announcement of a strategic alliance) of deep involvement in developing the S2 camera system and Leica making lenses for Mamiya mount certainly didn't help build any goodwill. I was standing in Leica booth when Leica managers found out what was being said and stormed over to Phase One. The rest of the show, reps spent their time in interviews emphasizing that the S2 was designed and built 100% by Leica, without help from any partners. Talks with Adobe started about a month or two afterwards towards the end of 2008.
As you said, the past is the past. Let's look to the future.
David