Cyanogen is looking to make Android its own, and if you're wondering about their solution, they are planning to fork Android. They want to make Android truly open source, by breaking it away from Google, in order to allow developers to provide a deeper level of integration as much as possible.
Kirt McMaster, CEO at Cyanogen, later explained it to Android Authority, "We're making a version of Android that is more open so we can integrate with more partners so their servicers can be tier one services, so startups working on [artificial intelligence] or other problems don't get stuck having you have to launch a stupid little application that inevitably gets acquired by Google or Apple. These companies can thrive on non-Google Android," he said.
McMaster gave the example of Google Now, which is plugged into core of the system. It is able to do so as it can read data from all services on your Android device. The same privileges are not granted to any other third party services who can also take advantage of such core level integration. McMaster named Yahoo's Aviate launcher could benefit from such integration and could be one of the Cyanogen partner. They are also planning to launch their own app store, rivalling Google Play Store.
To do this, Cyanogen will have to launch their own app store and it plans to do so in next 18 months. Since McMaster has already given us the timeline it appears that the company has already taken steps to move with the plan.
McMaster also mentioned that in three to five years Cyanogen will be more based on some derivate of Google. "We've barely scratched the surface in regards to what mobile can be. Today, Cyanogen has some dependence on Google. Tomorrow, it will not. We will not be based on some derivative of Google in three to five years. There will be services that are doing the same old bulls- with Android, and then there will be something different. That is where we're going here. (Cyanogen is a) white horse that opens the entire platform up. Google is running the table, and nobody likes that."
While Cyanogen seems to be quite high ambitions about Android, it would be interesting to see whether consumers can trust them after the recent OnePlus One and Micromax saga.
