Originally posted by Reed Modern line of fast primes is crucial, end of story. Release order doesn't really matter to me and will be not at all revelant after the realease. Still from my work experience- fast 50mm prime is also first prime one will buy after zoom peroid of his/hers photography or as a standard lens with new FF camera body. I think that new fifty is essential lens for brand recognition and marketing purpouses- both consumer and pro. Sigma 50/1.4A is still a bestseller in pro grade primes. Dozen of them sold over every one or two wider primes in that segment. For wide angle- people tend to get zooms. Legacy glass does not count here, as people tend to buy modern and top od the line luxury goods just becouse they can, not becouse they will squeeze 100%of its performance. For consumer grade lenses, smart move is to make some minor changes and market it as much as possible- in way "new one is better and will make you do better photos", Canon's updated 50/1.8 stm is simply dissapearing from shelves, and still its almost exactly the same performer as the old one, IMO even slower on focusing, still- its silent and that counts for every mom that want a prime to make cute pictures of their sleeping kids etc.
Of course a modern line of lenses is needed for all the DSLR manufacturers, not only for Pentax.
Canon updated the 35mm f1.4L and released 85mm f1.4L with IS. Next year a new 135mm with IS will be released and also the Canon 50mm f1.2L lens (which is 11 years old) will be updated.
After the primes or in between releases, I think some f4 zoom lenses may be comming for Pentax users. Let's just hope that we don't have to wait 5-6 years until we will see those lenses.
Canon 50mm f1.8 STM is sold because on a crop camera the angle of view is 80mm, which is a good focal lenght for moms who want a fast, very cheap and very light lens.
I don't have a 50mm lens because it's an unconfortable focal lenght for me. I like to shoot with 35mm, 85 and 135mm lenses on a full frame. And I use f4 zooms for flexibility and weight.
As Rondec said, the release order is the reason we discuss it and it is a little strange for me the release of the 50mm lens before a wide angle lens given the fact that K1 has a lot of features for a landscape users and an 85mm + an wide lens would have covered weedings, portraits and landscapes in the same time. But, Irix 15mm and Pentax 15-30mm will do it very well until Pentax will release a new wide lens.