CyanogenMod Inc

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toyonut

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#129574 19-Sep-2013 22:32

Cyanogenmod is forming a company:
http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/a_new_chapter
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/18/cyanogen-mod-7m-benchmark/

Looks like they want to make to easier to put cyanogenmod onto any phone. Really like CM and would love for it to be easier to get and have officially supported devices. Pessimistic hat on, I have no idea how they are planning to make money and keep it going. 7 million won't go far when paying for office space, salaries, servers and all the rest of the kit.
It looks like a features now startup deal and then monetize later. Maybe we could see cyanogenmod phones.

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ScuL

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#898771 19-Sep-2013 22:36

I run CM as well and am very pleased, hope things work out for them

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

bradstewart

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#898802 20-Sep-2013 01:06

There was a blog post by one of the investors stating they have no intention or expectation of seeing a return in the near future.

I've run CM on every phone I've had till I got the One, I like the Sense skin and it's nowhere near as bloated as previous versions. But I'll be watching with interest to see what comes from these developments. They seem to have a lot of good things planned.

nakedmolerat

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#898818 20-Sep-2013 07:10

I used to using CM on my Defy + S2. I don't see the need for that anymore since using Sony because of the regular updates and the skin itself is very close to stock Nexus

langers1972

1039 posts

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#898907 20-Sep-2013 10:26

Could be a great way for a new player in the market to hit a sweet spot though as it would blow the main Android gripe of fragmentation away in a second.

All it would take is for an OEM manufacturer to jump onboard CM and it COULD quickly become relevent

toyonut

1508 posts

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#899417 21-Sep-2013 14:23

Already the rumor mill is churning. Cyanogenmod might be partnering with Oppo.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57603939-251/cyanogenmod-founder-teases-oppo-as-first-smartphone-partner/

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Wade

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#899500 21-Sep-2013 17:28

I can't see this being hugely successful, businesses have overheads and need to turn a profit even if only to break even. People generating income off an open source community will split their supporter base leading to all sorts of problems (Focus camera app anyone?). Also I suspect a large portion of CM rom consumers do so because it offers an upgrade path not otherwise available which effectively "relife"ing an old device, this demographic is not necessarily going to pay directly or indirectly for this service so how do you generate an income stream?

Purely speculating but i would expect that the adoption rate of CM on new top spec devices will be dropping off due to the feature set/polished nature of OEM skins or the availability of Nexus and GPe versions or popular handsets. These are the people that will consider buying a new CM device i.e. the most likely revenue stream

Google has taken good steps to help resolve some of the fragmentation debacle with Google play services giving it the ability to push out it's app updates without requiring OEM OS updates which will help new devices moving forward

bradstewart

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#899524 21-Sep-2013 18:34

The 'loss' of focal means little. It was horribly buggy and the UI was unintuitive.

I don't really see CM losing users, it offers way more than GPe and Nexus do.

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Wade

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#899532 21-Sep-2013 19:29

My point was the Dev behind focus didn't want to commercialize his app.

What can cm offer that is not a part of or can not be added to a nexus or GPe ROM?

toyonut

1508 posts

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#899558 21-Sep-2013 22:27

I'm hopeful that with this now being a full time job, they can really make the dream of an alternative to Google happen. They have gone from system UI changes to wanting to make a cohesive Android OS that does not rely on Google's apps at all. It is also one of the few ways that the general public have any say in where they want the direction of Android to go. Google decide everything behind closed doors and devs only see the source when Google release it.
As far as monetizing goes, they have to have some form of income stream just to keep the doors open. Investors are going to want some return eventually as well.
My guess is that they could either offer an alternative app store and get a percentage of sales, or they could offer OEM's who don't want to spend the money on their own Devs a development service of sorts. You supply the hardware and binaries and we do the work to put our optimized Android on it and keep it up to date.

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linw

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#901156 23-Sep-2013 12:23

Yep, difficult to see where their income will come from. Partnering with hardware manufacturers may be their plan.

The other problem with these ROMs is the hardware drivers. The OS may be open source but the hardware drivers may not be.

bradstewart

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#901240 23-Sep-2013 14:06

Partnering with an OEM IS their plan, seems to be a foregone conclusion the Oppo N1 will have a CM option. In these cases they will have access to drivers. For other devices it will be business as usual.