Technoglitch
Core Member
Just over a year ago, a startup company called OnePlus announced it would launch its own Android device that would compete with flagship products from entrenched bigwigs like Samsung. The oddly-named OnePlus One would go on to sell for just $300 with excellent internal components. For an operating system, the team at OnePlus allied with Cyanogen, and signed a nonexclusive agreement to distribute Cyanogen OS.
While the phone met with rave reviews, the company had trouble shipping the devices in volume, and used a troublesome “invitation” process, which basically translated into “You can buy a phone an indeterminate number of months from now.” The real trouble came in India — when OnePlus went to distribute the device in that country, it found that Cyanogen Inc (the manufacturers of Cyanogen OS, but not the popular CyanogenMod) had signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Micromax Mobile.
This trade dispute gave OnePlus additional reason to develop their own version of Android, which they’ve now done — the result is the OxygenOS, which will ship as default on upcoming OnePlus Two devices. According to Cyanogen, however, the reason for the split is different. Microsoft has been aggressively courting Cyanogen — the two companies inked a deal last month to bring OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, and Bing over to the Android platform — and Cyanogen’s CEO, Kurt McMaster, has said that OnePlus was a great first partner, but he wanted to move on to bigger and better things.
OnePlus finally managed to kill its invite system for the OnePlus One, but has announced that it will use exactly the same system for the upcoming OnePlus Two. Specs for that device have yet to be announced, but it’s reported to be shipping towards the end of this year.
OnePlus, Cyanogen call it quits, go their separate ways | ExtremeTech
While the phone met with rave reviews, the company had trouble shipping the devices in volume, and used a troublesome “invitation” process, which basically translated into “You can buy a phone an indeterminate number of months from now.” The real trouble came in India — when OnePlus went to distribute the device in that country, it found that Cyanogen Inc (the manufacturers of Cyanogen OS, but not the popular CyanogenMod) had signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Micromax Mobile.
This trade dispute gave OnePlus additional reason to develop their own version of Android, which they’ve now done — the result is the OxygenOS, which will ship as default on upcoming OnePlus Two devices. According to Cyanogen, however, the reason for the split is different. Microsoft has been aggressively courting Cyanogen — the two companies inked a deal last month to bring OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, and Bing over to the Android platform — and Cyanogen’s CEO, Kurt McMaster, has said that OnePlus was a great first partner, but he wanted to move on to bigger and better things.
OnePlus finally managed to kill its invite system for the OnePlus One, but has announced that it will use exactly the same system for the upcoming OnePlus Two. Specs for that device have yet to be announced, but it’s reported to be shipping towards the end of this year.
OnePlus, Cyanogen call it quits, go their separate ways | ExtremeTech
