Not everyone wants to be assimilated into the mothership and apparently Cyanogen, Inc. is of that same mind. Word is that Google‘s own Android top honcho Sundar Pichai approached the fledgling startup with an offer to save them from financial woes, to which the CyanogenMod makers simply said no.
That Google is eying Cyanogen, the company, is both surprising and somewhat worrying at the same time, with the biggest question being “why”. There are various theories floating around and very few of them paint Google in a kind way. At the very best, we can think that the Android maker has been impressed by the genius behind the CyanogenMod ROM and wanted it for themselves. But given the ROMs goals are, to some extent, opposed to Google’s proprietary hold over Android, the other theories are equally possible and frightening, such as Google trying to prevent the startup from snatching up Google’s prospective partners in emerging markets or simply trying to silence the most popular and “divergent” Android ROM around.
This news, or rumor, also hints that Cyanogen, the company, might be in financial trouble. The startup was formed from the core developers of a not profitable open source community but it has so far manged to keep afloat only with two deals, one with OPPO on the N1 and one with OnePlus on the One. How long they can maintain the status quo is anyone’s guess, but there is no doubt that Cyanogen, Inc. will need money in order to keep operating. There has been talk that it plans on putting price tags on CM themes as a source of income, but that could only go so far.
Interestingly, Cyanogen Inc.’s standing in the wider Android community isn’t exactly clear cut. While they remain the core developers of CyanogenMod, the ROM is still an open source project. However, its move to incorporate themselves wasn’t met with welcome arms all throughout, leaving some to leave the project and even make their own ROM. It will be interesting to see how Cyanogen will fare in the near future and how its own fate will affect the most popular Android ROM around. And hopefully it won’t be as bad as what this news seems to be hinting at.
VIA: SlashGear
Not good. Maybe everyone should be donating after flashing. You pay big bucks for phones, when you use programs other people spend thousands of hours on, maybe you should make a little donation. Even a cup of coffee goes along way
Unless you don’t drink coffee.
lol
Yes, maybe you should.
First of all the article is via slashgear, not exactly a Google loving publication. Second google is not shy about spending money on good talent. They kept a whole lot of Motorola skilled engineers when google sold then off.
Selling out is not always a bad thing. Would android be where they are if it didn’t get bought by Google? What if Apple bought then to squash them?
Well as much as I appreciate many things Google has done there are plenty of reasons not to be a foolish fanboy, so painting slashgear as not exactly a Google loving “publication” would be a compliment.
What a baseless beat up story…