Cyanogen has just announced that it will be joining hands with Microsoft to bundle the tech giant's services into its operating system. As per the announcement, the first Cyanogen OS bundled with Microsoft's services will arrive later this year. The operating system (which is still based on open source Android) from Cyanogen will come with Bing services, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, and Microsoft Office as a part of this partnership.
Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster once made the statement that his company will try to "take Android away from Google" because Android usually comes bundled with a host of Google services. Well, these apps will be replaced by Microsoft’s services. Cyanogen recently received $80 million in funding and is working constantly to provide its OS to as many people as possible.
“People around the world use Cyanogen’s operating system and popular Microsoft services to engage with what matters most to them on their mobile devices. This exciting partnership with Microsoft will enable us to bring new kinds of integrated services to mobile users in markets around the world,” is what Kirt McMaster had to say about the deal.
The details of the deal, haven’t been fully revealed yet. However, it is a known fact that Microsoft is moving towards an open source environment where it is constantly working on providing its services across all platforms, be it Windows, Android, or iOS. On the other hand, Cyanogen is constantly increasing its user base by tying up with OEMs to launch devices with its operating system.
OnePlus One, one of the most popular devices globally, comes with Cyanogen OS and YU's all devices in future will make use of its operating system. It has also tied up with Alcatel to launch a device based on Cyanogen, which will be launched in the US. Let us wait and watch what fruit this deal bears.