Cyanogen sees its future in Chinese smartphone manufacturers

The problem with the smartphone market is that the established leaders make it difficult for newer companies to gain ground, and all of them aside from Apple and Microsoft are close to Google. So for a company like Cyanogen that has promised to take Android away from Google, getting companies to adopt your custom version of Android can be hard. However, things are a bit different in China, as many companies are already trying to distance themselves from Google, which is why Cynogen has decided to turn its attention there. 

After months of rough weather in their relationship Cyanogen and OnePlus are finally parting ways, announced Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster and Founder CTO Steve Kondik at a recent event. Speaking at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing, the company executives revealed US-based Cyanogen is now looking to work with some new Chinese hardware vendors to make its customised Android OS build for OEMs – Cyanogen OS – reach more consumers over the claimed 50 million existing users. “It’s a great way for them to build some identity outside of China using a brand that’s already reasonably well known,” said McMaster at the event, reported PC World. While the vendors were not named, Cyanogen said the devices will be targeting the international market rather than China. “OnePlus shipped reasonable volume, but nothing compared to what some of these other partners can ship. So we are working with partners that can scale much quicker,” McMaster added. McMaster added, “Without Cyanogen, OnePlus would have sold like one device in international markets. Essentially they built their brand on the back of Cyanogen.” PCWorld also cites an emailed response to the announcement from OnePlus Co-Founder Carl Pei, who said, “We wouldn’t be where we are today without this joint effort.”