Radu
You are right Pentax is about the only one who seems to still push into that direction, but I am pretty sure, compared to their 35mm business this is marginal.
Jeffrey
Yes that´s the logical consequence, sooner or later the further improvements in chips will demand tuned and synced systems that are diminishing maechanical tolerances as far as possible, also a live view will be essential. Look at Pentax and Leica, they already started going this way.
BC
Zeiss does not make any Autofocus, they do not have the technology, Sony Minolta supplies this part of the lens.
But - Zeiss could of course have Cosina make autofocus lenses, the problem is not technical, it´s a licensing, a payment for this and also a logical problem, actually the
targeted customers probably use these lenses more in manual mode than in AF mode, so it does not make too much sense. It also has technical advantages, you can
use a much better mechanical focusing if this does not have to be coupled with AF.
Regards
Stefan