The CEO of Cyanogen, Kirt McMaster, has announced his wish to be independent of Google in the next three to five years. Basically, he wants CyanogenMod to be an open version of Android that offers a deeper level of access to the core of the operating system.
As it is, this kind of access is not made available to third party apps. McMaster plans to change this so that Cyanogen can offer its partners “tier one services.” In order to be independent of Google, Cyanogen plans to eventually stop using Google services such as Google Maps, Gmail, and even the Play Store.
The plan also involves coming up with Cyanogen’s own app store in the next 18 months. However, even if the app store somehow manages to rival the Google Play Store (and it’s a big if), can consumers make do without Google Maps or other Google services?
Today, Cyanogen has some dependence on Google. Tomorrow, it will not. We will not be based on some derivative of Google in three to five years. – CEO of Cyanogen, Kirt McMaster
It’s definitely a bold declaration from the CEO of Cyanogen, but whether or not it can be accomplished remains to be seen. After all, there wouldn’t be the Android platform without Google in the first place.
(Source: The Information via Android Authority)
