Cyanogen Mod

Keano

They've secured the funding to now setup a proper business and will be soon offering their own OS.

Sonics2k

Keano A Legend wrote: »

They've secured the funding to now setup a proper business and will be soon offering their own OS.

Can we get some sources for this please?

In work so can't really go off Googling it, sadly.

Professey Chin

Sonics2k wrote: »

Can we get some sources for this please?

In work so can't really go off Googling it, sadly.

Official announcement
http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/a_new_chapter

Investor statement
http://mitchlasky.biz/cyanogen-mod/

EGriff

How will they make money? There's hundreds of free ROMs on XDA, a lot of them based off of CM.

I reckon they will make the install process a lot smoother and charge a little for that installer they mentioned in that post.

Professey Chin

EGriff wrote: »

How will they make money? There's hundreds of free ROMs on XDA, a lot of them based off of CM.

I reckon they will make the install process a lot smoother and charge a little for that installer they mentioned in that post.

Reddit AMA by Cyanogen (Steve Kondik) & Koush (Koushik Dutta) earlier answered this for the moment

Monetization isn't an immediate concern and our investors and Benchmark and Redpoint feel the same. CyanogenMod has the potential to become an enormous platform play, and to do that, we need to foster and grow the ecosystem. Right now, we just want to build something compelling and grow the user base. Eventually, there are innumerable paths to monetization once we reach economics of scale: licensing our software/services to OEMs, building hardware, creating secure enterprise solutions, etc.
Creating disruption in a multibilion dollar market is enough to make any investor raise their eyebrow.

The_B_Man

From what I read yesterday, the main problem is getting licencing from Google to use their apps, like the Play Store and YouTube etc, since they're not open source.


In terms of monetization, they won't sell the ROM but they'll probably have companies pay them to include apps on their ROMs, like bloatware, or if they don't get Play Store licencing, they'll team up with an existing App Store, or create their own, and take cuts from that. I'm guessing anyway.

I think they said the first thing they're focusing on is an installer program for Windows that you just run, it downloads the correct ROM for your phone, and roots/flashes it automatically for you.

5starpool

The_B_Man wrote: »

From what I read yesterday, the main problem is getting licencing from Google to use their apps, like the Play Store and YouTube etc, since they're not open source.


In terms of monetization, they won't sell the ROM but they'll probably have companies pay them to include apps on their ROMs, like bloatware, or if they don't get Play Store licencing, they'll team up with an existing App Store, or create their own, and take cuts from that. I'm guessing anyway.

I think they said the first thing they're focusing on is an installer program for Windows that you just run, it downloads the correct ROM for your phone, and roots/flashes it automatically for you.

An app that does that would be huge news. It would open up a whole new market of people who might be aware of the advantages of having a rom (or told by others) but are too afraid to install it themselves.

The_B_Man

Well there will be an installer on the Play Store in the next few weeks.
The thing is, I don't think it'll root your phone for you, so it'll be for root only, I'm guessing.
The Windows app will be the one that does the root and ROM. The app will just be the evolution of ROM Manager.

Inquitus

I can't see how this succeeds.

1) 95%+ of Android's installed base do not and will not mess with Custom roms.
2) How on earth do you monetise it? Android is a "free" OS, why would a consumer want to pay for a fork of it?
3) Installing CM puts your phone in a dubious area warranty wise, and whilst a hardware failure should be covered having a non stock ROM installed causes all sorts of ball ache!
4) Installing CM involves exploiting your phone in most cases, the method used is different for different handsets, whilst trying to do this from inside an app makes things easier, it is unlikely support will be as broad as it can be when using ADB etc.
5) People who don't know what they are doing will make a bollox of it, by pulling the battery mid install etc etc
6) With Vanilla Google versions of all the main handsets now becoming available is there any point in CM?

I have used CM 9 and 10 extensively in the past, I have CM 9 on my touchpad, my phone Xperia Z is just stock, so is my Nexus 7. In the past CM was one of few very stable AOSP ROMs out there and generally most peoples first port of call for getting a Touchwiz or Sense free experience for their phone, I am not sure that's true anymore. I wish them the best of luck, but I don't think this one will pan out.

niallb

Inquitus wrote: »

2) How on earth do you monetise it? Android is a "free" OS, why would a consumer want to pay for a fork of it?

A consumer won't, but the cyanogenmod team would be a great asset to any smaller phone manufacturer looking to get a good well supported android build on their handsets. I've used some of the older chinese tablets and phones in the past, and the result can leave a lot to be desired particularly for a European.

If a manufacturer can come to an arrangement with Cyanogenmod Inc, and is willing to share hardware details with them,
they could put out a phone with much broader appeal and with long term support to match a Nexus series.
That could indeed lead to profit all round:-)

osnola ibax

I thought the whole appeal of CM was that it was close to stock android and light with little or no bloatware, hell even Google apps is an add on.

Why would they now start including bloatware to make a few bob, they would lose their entire potential customer base.

I've used it aswell, or roms based on it, and always liked it but can't see how this will work. Samsung pretty much have the business enterprise thing cornered aswell.

I would imagine if this was going to work, it would mean an unrooted version of CM, maybe bought by Huawei or something. Enterprise won't allow rooted phones on their servers and with reason, they are more vulnerable to malware.

Either that or the windows app installs it without rooting, which would mean a legal license with Google I imagine.

ThisRegard

Inquitus wrote: »

3) Installing CM puts your phone in a dubious area warranty wise, and whilst a hardware failure should be covered having a non stock ROM installed causes all sorts of ball ache!

I would guess that a lot, (majority?) of people who install a ROM on their phone do so on phones that are long out of warranty anyway and are no longer supported via push OS updates.

murphaph

osnola ibax wrote: »

I thought the whole appeal of CM was that it was close to stock android and light with little or no bloatware, hell even Google apps is an add on.

To be clear, it's only an add-on because Google sent CM a cease and desist letter, forcing the removal of Gapps from the CM core. CM more or less fully expect you to re-install Gapps as soon as CM itself is up and running. It's not absent because CM consider those things bloatware.

I also don't really see the business here, but maybe that's why I work for someone else and aren't a millionaire already.

I do love CM though-stock Android with just a few tweaks that make it even better (these things should generally be part of stock IMO and if they were I wouldn't bother with CM either). Things like profiles and automatically switching between them based on connected network just make so much sense, it shouldn't really have to fall to CM to come up with these ideas, Google should "know" what people want from their own searches

donspeekinglesh

Oppo Reveals The N1: Rotating 13MP Camera, 5.9" Screen, CyanogenMod Edition Will Launch With CM Pre-Installed

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AndroidPolice/~3/yLrYJ5CUXBw/story01.htm

Chinese manufacturer Oppo has been teasing its N1 flagship for some time, and the phone finally became official this morning. At 5.9 inches it sits squarely in the "phablet" category, though there are certainly enough other hardware highlights to turn a few heads. The most interesting is probably the 13MP camera, which sits on a case-mounted hinge and rotates to serve as both the rear and front cameras. It's a design seen before in some laptops and earlier camera phones, but this is the first time we've seen it on a modern smartphone. Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:It Looks Like Oppo Is Cyanogen's First Hardware Partner - Cyanogen Will Be At The N1 Announcement On September 23rd [Update: Winner Selected] Win An Oppo Find 5 (32GB, Midnight Black) From Oppo And Android Police [Weekend Poll] Are You Interested In The Oppo N1 For Its Official CyanogenMod Support? Oppo Representative: "N1 Coming Later This Year, Find N7 Coming Late 2014" Oppo Reveals The N1: Rotating 13MP Camera, 5.9" Screen, CyanogenMod Edition Will Launch With CM Pre-Installed was written by the awesome team at Android Police.    

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