The FreeXperia team of contributors help maintain CyanogenMod support for Xperia devices, and they've done such a great job that Sony has decided to hire one of the group's developers. Alin Jerpelea was one of FreeXperia's founders in 2010, and he is now the newest member of Sony's Developer Program. Having already built up a reputation for his work bringing the freshest CyanogenMod ROMs to Sony devices, he will now help the company with its open source initiatives.

“I am very happy that Alin is joining us, as this is a great way for us to increase our activity on Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and other open source initiatives. It will also make it possible for us to work even closer to the community in this area,”

- Karl-Johan Dahlström, Head of Developer Relations at Sony

Sony has a relatively good track record with embracing the open aspect of Android. The company tends to release kernel and source files before its phones come to market, and it typically doesn't go out of its way to hinder the development or installation of custom ROMs. This latest hire is further evidence that it keeps an eye on what the community is up to and, apparently, likes what it sees.

Source: Sony Mobile