Microsoft is Supposedly Investing in Cyanogen

[dgstorm]

Here's some strange news from late last night. Both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft was planning to invest in Cyanogen. Here's a quote from the WSJ on the issue,

People familiar with the matter say Microsoft is putting money into Cyanogen, which is building a version of the Android mobile-operating system outside of Google’s auspices.

Microsoft would be a minority investor in a roughly $70 million round of equity financing that values Cyanogen in the high hundreds of millions, one of the people said. The person said the financing round could grow with other strategic investors that have expressed interest in Cyanogen because they’re also eager to diminish Google’s control over Android. The identity of the other potential investors couldn’t be learned.

Spokespeople for Microsoft and Cyanogen declined to comment.

Apparently, this is Microsoft's play to get their fingers deeper into the Android pie. This way, Microsoft can create a version of Android that is more friendly to their app ecosystem than Google has been.

As for Cyanogen, this is their way of dominating the Android landscape. In fact, the Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster, boldly claimed, “We’re going to take Android away from Google.”

It sounds like this team-up is designed to specifically diminish Google's control of Android. If this turns out to be true, what do you think of this behind the scenes strategic maneuver from Microsoft?

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I mean...I get where they're coming from to a certain extent...

But if it wasn't for Google, we wouldn't have android in the first place. Sure, Google bought into it, but they also breathed life into it and nurtured it into what it is today. That's my feeling on Cyanogen doing/saying what they have and will do.

As for Microsoft, maybe they should think about making their own OS better than the competitor instead of buying stock in a bastardized version of that same competitor's software.

Don't get me wrong, Cyanogen does some great things, and maybe I'm just a purist, but I'm not a fan of these moves or these claims.

I don't think the market can sustain this many different OS's. I get that this will, in essence, be android and run android apps, but now you've got Android, ios, Windows, Cyanogen, Samsung starting to push Tizen again...Sure, not a big deal for folks like us here on the forum. Heck, I'm sure many would be happy to buy a device running Cyanogen's software right out of the box, but for the average consumer that only recently got their first smartphone ever, I see the waters getting muddy and the choices getting confusing.

 

[Ollie]

Smart move by Microsoft. They make millions and millions from Android phones already and this will increase the size of their coffers.

They made $800 million from the sale of Samsung phones alone.

 

[akhenax]

Couldn't Google could disallow the use of Google Play, and then sue CyanogenMod for the use of it in their ROMs.
Also, for Cyanogen to want to take Android away...well...Amazon already did this.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Couldn't Google could disallow the use of Google Play, and then sue CyanogenMod for the use of it in their ROMs.
Also, for Cyanogen to want to take Android away...well...Amazon already did this.

Not just Google play. Gapps in general. Gmail, calendar, etc. Some easier replaced than others.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[akhenax]

Not just Google play. Gapps in general. Gmail, calendar, etc. Some easier replaced than others.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

Which is even worse for Cyanogen!

 

[dgstorm]

Google can't really do that, because they have committed to keeping Android "Open." They would have to reverse their stance on that completely which would be a major PR disaster.

 

[kodiak799]

How is what Cyanagoen does really different from the OEM's? How is pre-loading MS software any different from the OEM's and carriers adding their own bloat?

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Google can't really do that, because they have committed to keeping Android "Open." They would have to reverse their stance on that completely which would be a major PR disaster.

Oh really? Have you forgotten their recent policy revision towards oems & requiring certain "powered by android" on the boot screen & other stipulations if they wanted access to the store & Gapps...?

Android & Google's apps are separate items that work hand in hand.



Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[dgstorm]

Oh really? Have you forgotten their recent policy revision towards oems & requiring certain "powered by android" on the boot screen & other stipulations if they wanted access to the store & Gapps...?

Android & Google's apps are separate items that work hand in hand.



Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

Good point!

 

[mountainbikermark]

I mean...I get where they're coming from to a certain extent...

But if it wasn't for Google, we wouldn't have android in the first place. Sure, Google bought into it, but they also breathed life into it and nurtured it into what it is today. That's my feeling on Cyanogen doing/saying what they have and will do.

As for Microsoft, maybe they should think about making their own OS better than the competitor instead of buying stock in a bastardized version of that same competitor's software.

Don't get me wrong, Cyanogen does some great things, and maybe I'm just a purist, but I'm not a fan of these moves or these claims.

I don't think the market can sustain this many different OS's. I get that this will, in essence, be android and run android apps, but now you've got Android, ios, Windows, Cyanogen, Samsung starting to push Tizen again...Sure, not a big deal for folks like us here on the forum. Heck, I'm sure many would be happy to buy a device running Cyanogen's software right out of the box, but for the average consumer that only recently got their first smartphone ever, I see the waters getting muddy and the choices getting confusing.

If it weren't for Microsoft there would be no Android dominance. If MS hadn't gotten so short sighted and arrogant their first delve into smartphones would still be a dominant force in the market place because there wouldn't have been such a thirst for something other than them or ios.
Perhaps it's good news that Microsoft has finally admitted they are no longer #1 in the mobile world in their own minds?
I'll be honest that I'd like to see a third major player because Android and ios are both bastardizing into 1 os where they only differentiate in the place your spend your money on apps, music, etc. Neither have anything new and fresh that isn't a clone of the other anymore.a

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[bsweetness]

Google can't really do that, because they have committed to keeping Android "Open." They would have to reverse their stance on that completely which would be a major PR disaster.

Oh really? Have you forgotten their recent policy revision towards oems & requiring certain "powered by android" on the boot screen & other stipulations if they wanted access to the store & Gapps...?

Android & Google's apps are separate items that work hand in hand.

Exactly. The Android OS is open source, and anyone can do pretty much whatever they want to do with it. But Google's apps are an entirely different beast. In order to legally include any of them, Google requires that you adhere to a minimum set of standards. This has been true since the first Android devices were released.

 

[FoxKat]

For me, Cyanogen has been an experiment that was fun to play with but never worked completely in all the versions I've tried. There was either radio problems or certain gapps didn't work properly, the list goes on and on. I liken the CM builds to someone who takes a production car off the line and then tries to make it into something it wasn't designed to be. Sure there will be certain successes but there will also be falters and failures. It seems each time something got fixed something else stopped working.

Granted I haven't experienced the One plus One so IDK how well polished that OS is but I'm in total agreement with @Jonny Kansas in that CM is nothing more than a bastardized version of Google's evolutionary and revolutionary OS. Look, i know it's Linux which is open source but It was Google who really gave it life, and by way of that gave life to CM too. Nothing like becoming the direct adversary of your birth parent, the one who essentially created the opportunity for you to grow and blossom, and then using their genes as weapons against them in the process for your own personal gain.

If this bears true I've lost respect for Kirt McMaster and the entire team. I would find a certain level of satisfaction if Google were to call them to the mat and win a huge settlement in court. It would send a strong message to others about changing the draperies and fixtures in a building and then laying claim to having designed it, calling it their own and profiting from that claim.

Sent from my Droid Turbo on Tapatalk.

 

[cr6]

Lawsuit seems a bit drastic. Especially given the fact that the majority of us enjoy (or have enjoyed in the past) rooting & romming our devices. CM simply took it to another level and did what other developers obviously couldn't do. To fault them for that is absurd imo. Especially when 99.8% of us whine & complain about locked bootloaders & the inability to root our phones. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[FoxKat]

Perhaps you don't understand what I meant. To make the claim "We're going to take Android away from Google.", it's about as big a slap in the face of Google as he could make. It's arrogant and self-serving. Unlike all he represented before, this isn't an effort to make Android more personalized and appealing to the users based on their desires as indicated in threads in forums. It's simply a plan to grow his own business and wealth on the coattails of Google and the members he's sold out.

It's akin to declaring war and so with a shot across the bow of Google like that, Google has every reason to view it as war and to take aggressive actions to protect itself and to protect Android in its present form for current Android phone users including you and me.

Sure, we hacked the OS and had fun customizing it as such, but this is no longer hacking and customizing. Cyanogen has stepped across the table and is now positioning himself and with the help of Microsoft intends to displace Google.

I believe that litigation in some form is inevitable from this.

Sent from my Droid Turbo on Tapatalk.