CyanogenMod Goes Mainstream In India With Micromax Smartphone

If you’re an enthusiastic techie who swears by your Android device, chances are you will be more than familiar with CyanogenMod; in fact it’s quite likely to be your most favorite thing after your very Smartphone itself.

On the other hand, to those of you who haven’t had the privilege of benefiting from their donations to society, here’s what it’s about in essence – CyanogenMod is an Open-Source operating system based on the Android platform.

Moving from Android OS to a CyanogenMod ROM would mean having a stronger hold over the functionality of your device – hardware performance and otherwise – allowing for optimization for specific purposes and thus enabling the best experience suited to your needs, coupled with the looks you desire.

Users wishing to swap their device’s Android OS for a CyanogenMod ROM would have enable Root access to their device and then follow a series of steps, in order to flash their device and complete the process.

CyanogenMod, which started off as a community of developers in 2009, grew in popularity and adoption until it ultimately became the industry standard. Last year however, the team obtained venture funding in order to commercialize themselves by establishing – Cyanogen Inc. The move, which ruffled some feathers in the open-source community, went on to alter the team’s goal from piggybacking on Android devices, to bringing its version of the OS straight to OEMs as a complete package.

And given that Google recently attempted, but failed to acquire the company, it’d be safe to say they’re on the right track.

Cyanogen’s Newest Device With Micromax

As per a recent report by XDA-Developers, Cyanogen has taken another step in this direction by partnering with Indian OEM – Micromax, towards launching a CYANOGEN OS powered Smartphone. Though not Cyanogen’s first hardware partnership, or bundled phone so far, the blow this particular partnership could bring is huge.

The Smartphone, which is supposed to release this year , would likely be the third device to come powered by CYANOGEN out of the box; the first two being Oppo N1 (CM edition) and OnePlus One. The specifications of the upcoming device are at the moment still a mystery, but would probably be along the same lines as its aforementioned foreign cousins. This would likely place it in the range of mid-high end, but due to Micromax’s low-cost nature, we might see them alter it for a low-mid range product, targeting the more tech-oriented masses.

Micromax, which was recently crowned India’s largest handset manufacturer, has in its six-year existence in the mobile phone industry, managed to steal the thunder from otherwise formidable giants such as Samsung, all with its shrewd moves, tailored to the Indian market. Being one of the three OEMs to have partnered with Google in their Android One initiative, adds to the significance of this step.

If Cyanogen’s collaboration with Micromax manages to succeed in the market, it could spell some serious trouble for Android, trickling down to more affordable devices. Other indigenous OEMs would thereafter be very likely to follow suit in Cyanogen’s adoption, only to leave its more restricted forefather Android in the dark.

Cyanogen’s meteoric rise to significance, from its humble and rebellious origins, is the stuff that movies are made of! Only time will tell if they will manage to overpower the very root of their origin, Android itself; though something tells me we might not have to wait too long to figure out the trend on that one.