Android has come a long way from its humble start in 2008 , the platform , which was backed by Google was a instant hit among manufacturers and consumers alike , the opensource nature and the ability to transfer media without syncing made it the only choice in a world of closed source smartphones of the era ,the envy and fear of Android's dominance shook most rival manufacturers to their core , and as a result , almost all major Non Android OEM's had a go at firing their canons at Android -which only proved to be futile on the long run as Android has now passed the 81% marketshare mark , this rapid success can be attributed to Google's efforts to push the Android platform even further , but that doesn't mean that all Android's are Google - a significant amount -37% of the Android pie consists of "Forked" or modified versions of Android , this can be either Color OS , Amazon's Fire Os or even Microsoft/Nokia's own Nokia X platform , these AOSP based builds basically keeps Google services out , and in return their own custom services are added , Microsoft - a company that claimed about Windows Phone being the next revolution in Smartphones are slowly testing Android waters as their own platform is still stuck in the 3% share , Microsoft did make a Android version with Microsoft apps , but that became another "Kin" as the plan was poorly executed , to prevent it from happening again, Microsoft is now said to give financial aid to Cyanogen - a 3rd party custom Android Rom maker that started "cyanogenmod" .The company , which started on the success of their ROM's started to receive many cash injections which eventually made them incorporate into a company , OEM's like OnePlus , and Micromax became clients of the new Android custom version and all looked good , but the rebellious nature of Cyanogen has now attracted another player - Microsoft who apparently wants to rid Android of Google .
With $70 million invested into Cyanogen , Microsoft might try to play with Google right on their own back yard , if properly executed (like the Z launcher) , Microsoft's Cyanogen version might have all the Android features you'd expect in android except for Google apps - which will obviously be replaced by Microsoft's own (apps might look similar to the new Microsoft Office and Outlook apps for iOS and Android) , and with beautiful hardware , Microsoft's Lumia division can easily roll the platform onto the general market with ease -bringing the much needed demand for Microsoft services . But Microsoft was also working on improving Windows (Phone), and there were rumors about Future Windows Phone versions supporting Android apps and if that happens , Microsoft can finally bring a solution to their app problem , whatever it is , Microsoft clearly has a long term strategy and right now , they might be considering Android only as a second option should Windows Phone fail to please investors .
Written by Rakitha for MasHD
Source -
Extremetech
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