Why?

Same at the Sony store, B&H and Adorama.  If I had to guess, I'd say that they're going to have a new lens to go along with the A6100. But that's only a wild guess.

 

I did see this thread in the APS-C lens section a while back:

http://www.sonyalphaforum.com/topic/11-possible-three-new-aps-c-e-mount-lenses-to-come-in-2015/

 

I do look forward to more APS-C lenses, from Sony and third parties.

 

Now to decide whether to grab the sel50f18 now, or see what comes along. Nice problem to have. 

-Ed-

It's NOT discontinued:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=SEL50f18&_dyncharset=UTF-8&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys

Those linked items above are mostly Best Buy Marketplace items.  Those are sold through Best Buy by 3rd party retailers.

 

But it does appear to be listed  here

It's NOT discontinued:

 

Good catch. I misread the thread title as "discounted", and it is indeed discounted.

 

And it is indeed on its way to my door, courtesy of B&H. 

No... You read it right. Every Best Buy is selling the stock they have of SEL50f18 (sku 5638022) and will not get more. I searched 5 stores in an area I travel for business until I found one today. You can call and ask about that sku. They'll tell you it's being deleted from their system.