Cyanogen ambitions...
Weird news this week online about Microsoft investing in Cyanogen and claiming that Cyanogen plans to effectively steal Android from Google.
This falls under a few categories, namely bat-shit crazy and misleading and mostly just wrong.
Firstly, the way the (click-bait) headlines portray it as Microsoft is the primary or even sole funder of Cyanogen and that they funded them with the purpose of taking down Google. The articles do little to paint much different aside from Microsoft's portion of the investment which is simply to say that they are one of some number of investors in the current round of raising funds.
Also, if you ignore the grandiose terms used by Cyanogen and take them in full context it really paints a different picture. Not that it matters which picture they are painting. They compare this "theft" of Android to what Amazon does with their 3rd party Android store. Which, even if Cyanogen managed to be many times bigger than Amazon still wouldn't account for an overly large portion of the Android market. And I think that is the real message here. Cyanogen wants a piece of the action. They want to make and sell Android variants along with their own app store (because, by virtue of what they want to do they would be blocked from the Google Play store).
This is slightly different than Amazon's tactics in one crucial element. They aren't a closed ecosystem. Amazon's OS is only available on Amazon devices. Cyanogen already has at least one OEM using their OS's and in theory they could have any number of OEM's shipping phones with their OS's on them.
As for Microsoft's part. They are an investor. They invest in many things. What it means? They think buying into Cyanogen has a decent chance of returning the investment (in one form or another). That *could* mean that they are hoping Cyanogen will eventually supplant Google Play supported Android devices, or it could simply mean that they expect Cyanogen will make enough money to repay the investment with interest. Or... it could mean just about anything else. Frankly, the fact that many in the tech industry know of Cyanogen and they already have at least one OEM deal means that it is not as risky as investing in a start-up with no sales.
Take the news with a grain of salt basically.
Honestly, I don't anticipate that Cyanogen will succeed in replacing Google Play enabled devices. There is too much infrastructure to compete with. Everything from the larger app store to gift cards to actual affiliation with the primary Android contributor. The situation may be different outside of North America, but Google is fairly heavily entrenched here.
This falls under a few categories, namely bat-shit crazy and misleading and mostly just wrong.
Firstly, the way the (click-bait) headlines portray it as Microsoft is the primary or even sole funder of Cyanogen and that they funded them with the purpose of taking down Google. The articles do little to paint much different aside from Microsoft's portion of the investment which is simply to say that they are one of some number of investors in the current round of raising funds.
Also, if you ignore the grandiose terms used by Cyanogen and take them in full context it really paints a different picture. Not that it matters which picture they are painting. They compare this "theft" of Android to what Amazon does with their 3rd party Android store. Which, even if Cyanogen managed to be many times bigger than Amazon still wouldn't account for an overly large portion of the Android market. And I think that is the real message here. Cyanogen wants a piece of the action. They want to make and sell Android variants along with their own app store (because, by virtue of what they want to do they would be blocked from the Google Play store).
This is slightly different than Amazon's tactics in one crucial element. They aren't a closed ecosystem. Amazon's OS is only available on Amazon devices. Cyanogen already has at least one OEM using their OS's and in theory they could have any number of OEM's shipping phones with their OS's on them.
As for Microsoft's part. They are an investor. They invest in many things. What it means? They think buying into Cyanogen has a decent chance of returning the investment (in one form or another). That *could* mean that they are hoping Cyanogen will eventually supplant Google Play supported Android devices, or it could simply mean that they expect Cyanogen will make enough money to repay the investment with interest. Or... it could mean just about anything else. Frankly, the fact that many in the tech industry know of Cyanogen and they already have at least one OEM deal means that it is not as risky as investing in a start-up with no sales.
Take the news with a grain of salt basically.
Honestly, I don't anticipate that Cyanogen will succeed in replacing Google Play enabled devices. There is too much infrastructure to compete with. Everything from the larger app store to gift cards to actual affiliation with the primary Android contributor. The situation may be different outside of North America, but Google is fairly heavily entrenched here.
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