back to article Cyanogen finds $80m in collecting tin after busking session

Bloatware-free Android version Cyanogen has some powerful friends. The company has passed around the investors' collecting tin and come up with $80m. Those friends are Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm, Telefónica Ventures, Indonesian telco Smartfren Telecom, Index Ventures, Access Industries (the US-based industrial group headed by …

  1. Alistair
    Pint

    Cyanogen -

    Currently the only thing I'll run on my (yes its old, it still runs just fine thanks) SIIx. The cruft that ships on the carrier's install is gawd awful broken. Now, Cyanogen, come up with a replacement set for Google Play Services that can be toggled on and off so that I don't have to use both the os level *and* a startup manager to disable that crap. Damn crap software eats more battery than even wifi.

    Go get em Cyanogen. Have a beer to celebrate with.

    1. Stuart 22

      Re: Cyanogen -

      As an HP Touchpad user Cyanogen is the OS that brings back the dead. But that's only an unofficial port. That's the crux of Cyanogen's dilemma?

      Born of a desire to not landfill good kit the manufacturer disowned or bloated out of existence - that is no revenue opportunity for an organisation going professional with paid developers. $80 million says they are going to target OEM agreements in competition with Google and the aftermarket can go get lost - again!

      It would be good if this stimulated more Google Play offerings. But I'm not counting on it.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Cyanogen -

        And a big chunk of Cyanogen's money came from Microsoft with a promise to "disrupt" Android.

        So once the market is "disrupted"enough that you can't guarantee a certain app will run on a certain phone then the funding will end.

        embrace, extend, extinguish.....

  2. Montague Wanktrollop

    Another fork!

    Although I use and love Cyanogen why distance itself from core android? Why spend that round of cash in recreating the wheel?

    If they can distance themselves from the MS royalty payments then all well and good but I can't help but feel this another wasteful Gnome /KDE scenario

    1. tony2heads

      Re: re-creating the wheel

      Some wheels are cartwheels and some are upmarket alloy wheels for your beamer. Cyanogen is more like the latter.

      1. DainB Bronze badge

        Re: re-creating the wheel

        More like refurbished wheels from scrapheap to me.

    2. dogged

      Re: Another fork!

      > why distance itself from core android?

      Because core Android is being left to die by Google, who continually shift more and more functionality into the wholly proprietary and closed-source Google Play.

      Short version, Android isn't open any more (or rather, what's open is barely functional).

      1. Paul Shirley

        @dogged

        ..yet the majority of CM users first action is installing the Google software that so offends you! One of the earliest things CM had to do was negotiate with Google to ensure users could continue to get the Google core stuff.

        Bloated and intrusive, yes. Still doesn't seem to worry normal users at all. The outrage has been manufactured and grossly exaggerated so far.

        1. dogged

          @Paul Shirley

          > ..yet the majority of CM users first action is installing the Google software that so offends you!

          It doesn't offend me, it is what it is. But Cyanogen have stated that they want to build a wholly open source Android distro that doesn't rely on Google which makes some sense because it's no longer possible to build a wholly open source Android distro that does rely on Google.

  3. Spacedman

    Bloatware free? Maybe, but it still ground my 5-y-o Samsung Galaxy S to a halt. Now running Slimkat and its slicky slick slickness. Just don't use the Google Launcher or its back to stuck in treacle mode for me.

  4. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Testing times

    > The company will use the funding to recruit more developers and help build the alternative Android ecosystem.

    And hopefully some (professional) testers, Q&A-ers and documenters, too.

  5. Alan Denman

    And them who darest not be named ?

    " and several yet-to-be-announced partners."

    Would that mainly be Microsoft then as rumour already had it ?

    1. dogged

      Re: And them who darest not be named ?

      No, they weren't participating in this funding round.

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-13/cyanogen-said-to-raise-110-million-microsoft-passes-on-funding

      While Microsoft and Cyanogen failed to strike an investment deal, talks between the two illustrate how Microsoft is trying to get its applications and services on rival operating systems, a key goal embraced by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella. Microsoft has in the past complained that Google Inc., which manages Android, has blocked its programs from the operating system.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And them who darest not be named ?

        Microsoft has in the past complained that Google Inc., which manages Android, has blocked its programs from the operating system.

        Well, MS certainly knows what that tactic when it sees it.

      2. dogged
        Thumb Up

        Re: And them who darest not be named ?

        Always remember to thumb down information with cites if that information is not what you wish it was.

  6. Big_Ted

    Meh

    Unless they can get a mega company to buy into the OS like say Samsung and have them install it on their tighest spec phones then its a dead duck niche player.

    The Chinese are already going their own way and companies are either using Googles OS or writing/modifying their own such as Tizen or WebOS. Lets be honest here, the vast majority of people in the world don't know what Cyanogenmod is let alone how to install it safely. They are just looking to buy a phone that can text / twitbook / email and take piccies of their lunch to post. Cyanogenmod is the last thing they want.

    1. silent_count

      Re: Meh

      I keep pondering how Cyanogen is going to make money - their other objectives are irrelevant if the business itself is not viable.

      I'm sure there's a handful on these forums who've played with it, or even use CyanogenMod as their primary phone OS but we aren't representative of the vast majority of people in user-land who will never install an app, much less an OS. And we, techie types aren't a big enough market to keep Cyanogen in business. So where is their money going to come from?

      Your mention of China got me thinking though. I was in Thailand last year and there's a huge pile of cheap, Chinese-made phones to be had. Mostly knock-offs of the popular, western brands - Samsungs and iPhones and HTCs and the like - which look the part of whatever they're proporting to be but at quarter (or less) of the cost of the real deal (and a quarter of the specs too).

      Now I'm thinking to myself, these phones will never get an update from their manufacturer. Could Cyanogen sell their OS to the people who buy one of those phones? $5 per year to keep your phone updated with the latest CyanogenMod. I don't know but I think it's a market where Cyanogen's product is easily superior and would be well worth paying for.

      1. Paul Shirley

        Re: Meh

        Quite a lot of us that have used CyanogenMod started trusting them a lot less when it went commercial. I moved away from pure CyanogenMod before that, device support was patchy and all the interesting things were happening in other forks.

        With Murdoch onboard, think I'll be avoiding it from now on.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Meh

          "With Murdoch onboard, think I'll be avoiding it running away from it in sheer unadulterated terror from now on."

          There is only one reason why Murdoch would invest in anything.

          "I see you are looking for information on the NHS/EU/climate change/crime/feminism. Would you like lots of right wing disinformation on that one?"

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Meh

        Buy a cheap chinese no name android tablet off fleabay from the far east, and odds on it will arrive with CM, reskinned to look like some official android release, but still CM under the covers.

      3. DainB Bronze badge

        Re: Meh

        They don't need to make money, they are venture funded startup so all they need is a believable exit strategy they can sell investors.

  7. MrWibble
    FAIL

    "Bloatware-free Android version Cyanogen"

    Not been bloatware free for a while now - I've had to do an addon.d script to delete a lot of the cruft they include as standard (I presume as part of their "moving from google" strategy. Apollo, File manager, gallery, camera - I get better ones from the Play Store, so don't need them installed in the system partition.

    And if the rumours are to be believed, more is on the way...

    Oh, and don't forget that they still haven't released CM12s (Lollipop) for the OnePlus - their bloatware-free software seems to be taking a lot longer to roll out than the bloatware heavy Motorola, or Samsung Lollipop releases...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Too busy prostituting for cash

    Where's my CM11 M13?!

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