Cyanogen picks modular programme to ‘do more’ with Android

Cyanogen has finally shifted its focus from a complete custom Android platform and announced a new modular programme. The company has also reshuffled its leadership by transitioning its co-founder and CEO, Kirt McMaster, into an executive chairman role and selecting former COO Lior Tal as the new CEO.

Tal will focus the company’s efforts into making the new programme successful. Additionally, Steve Kondik, co-founder and present CTO of Cyanogen, will be taking on a new role as chief science officer. Kondik will report to Stephen Lawler, SVP of engineering at Cyanogen.

Called Cyanogen Modular OS, the initiative is aimed to do more with Android by offering smartphone manufacturers a way to easily customise their smartphones using different parts of the original Cyanogen OS. The company is set to provide dynamic modules and MODs that can work on top of any Android environment, such as stock Android or a custom ROM. “Cyanogen’s Modular OS programme will allow value, independence and intelligence to flow freely between the layers of the ecosystem, providing more companies and developers with the freedom to borrow from, unite and utilise our technology in new and innovative ways,” wrote Tal, in a blog post.

In addition to its way of reaching out to various manufacturers, Cyanogen is broadening its ecosystem through the modular programme as it will host multiple products in areas including artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services.

The California based company is also planning to enable developers to customise modules.

It is worth noting here that millions of enthusiasts have already contributed towards CyanogenMod, a custom Android ROM developed by Cyanogen. These participants are likely to make a shift to the company’s modules and MODs.

Although Tal’s post has not revealed any particular reason for the change, it highlights some challenges in the smartphone market. “Android has become extremely fragmented, causing serious security vulnerabilities and there are few or no incentives for device manufacturers to deliver software upgrades and/or security patches,” he stated.

The development of modules does not mean that Cyanogen OS is leaving the operating system world. The custom ROM, which offers improvements over vanilla Android, will continue to be available. Further, nearly 20 devices that are officially running a CyanogenMod version would get future updates from the community.