Cyanogen Inc. has just carried out a massive round of layoffs. Most of the affected employees worked in the ROM development area, which leads us to believe that the company will undergo a serious change in strategy.
In all, 30 employees of the 136 who were part of the team were dismissed on Friday, July 22, according to the Android Police. This represents more than 20% of the company’s total team. Most of these, according to the source, were working on the development of Cyanogen OS.
Cyanogen Inc. was created in 2013, with the aim of professionalizing the idea behind the CyanogenMod ROM, which is an open source system based on Android. CyanogenMod offers an experience very close to pure Android, but without the name and without Google apps. Cyanogen OS is the «professional» version of ROM.
Is this the end of the Cyanogen OS we know? / © ANDROIDPIT
The company had an initial financing of 7 million dollars, in addition to subsequent rounds that raised 80 million (thanks mainly to Facebook and Telefónica de España), which generated a great excitement and enthusiasm in the developer community. However, interest from other manufacturers in Cyanogen OS did not come, and the divorce from OnePlus caused many to cast doubt on the usefulness of the system.
THE Android Police cites sources close to the company to speak of a «turn for applications» by Cyanogen Inc. This change could cause the company to start to focus more on the development and creation of apps, to the detriment of the operating system. The change was being led by COO Lior Tal.
ROM remains available, but without a team dedicated to its development and support, the future of Cyanogen OS as we know it so far is uncertain.
