Just so we’re clear: I have no objection to to Jolla offering a subscription model provided it is offered alongside the continued option of buying a SFOS device licence. I have no interest in renting my phone product.
You’d be buying access to the SFOS dev and/or testing channels, while normal users just stay on SFOS stable. Which I think would be a great way to support the product.
But of course the subscription could be for anything, as long as it adds some perceived value and fuels steady Sailfish development.
Other alternative phone OS makers do the same: Purism has librem one software suite, Murena offers cloud services, iode sells some adblock stuff, in addition to selling preloaded hardware.
Also, Murena and iode - like all other android forks - have the benefit of being able to drop support for their phones constantly, so they can create artificial supply and demand. Jolla on the other hand has to rely on phones getting broken or really super outdated on their own to once in a moon sell you a new license in an easily saturated market segment.