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You can officially close the books on the OnePlus and Cyanogen marriage. If Steve Kondik’s assertion that you likely won’t be seeing any more collaborations from the two didn’t cement it, perhaps CEO Kirt McMaster’s penchant for saying the wrong things at the wrong time will.
The heady CEO spoke at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing, and laid out this following juicy nugget:
Without Cyanogen, OnePlus would have sold like one device in international markets. Essentially they built their brand on the back of Cyanogen.
Whether McMasters’ comments are true remains to be determined, though we’re sure he could have made his point with a bit more class. It’s natural for the CEO to feel good about his company’s position, what with them securing a major partnership with Microsoft, and all. They’ve also gotten deals inked with major Chinese OEMs, Qualcomm and more to get Cyanogen loaded up on phones and development devices as soon as 2015.
There’s no doubt Cyanogen is great, but to suggest OnePlus would have been next to nothing without them is quite the boisterous stance. Luckily for OnePlus, there’s a chance to prove everyone wrong with a follow-up that runs software built by the folks who make what many consider to be the second best ROM in the land — Paranoid Android.
[via PCWorld]
This dude is a prick.
There is probably some truth there. They had the name value when the partnership started and the idea of an OEM Cyanogenmod phone was a big selling point. However, the specs and price point were probably just as important.
Definitely. If the OPO was $650 w/ cyanogenmod, I doubt it would’ve sold well. The specs at that price point was the biggest factor in OPO’s success.
I’ll admit, I only bought the One+ for the price and the Cyanogen backing. The fact that Paranoid is on the clock, is a good thing for sure.
Someone sounds salty…
IMHO, I would rather have a stock (AOSP) OnePlus One than one with Cyanogen. Don’t get me wrong, I use to root and flash my phones with Cyanogen ROMs, but their cutting edge drivers, software and tweaks always made them buggier/less stable than stock ROMs. After a bit of use, I always reverted to stock with the bloatware manually removed.
Bullshit. I would’ve liked my OnePlus One more without Cyanogen, but I appreciate they were young and didn’t have the software community to build their own ROM yet. Never liked Cyanogen. Always full of not major, but irritating bugs, creating a really unpolished feeling in the UI. As soon as OnePlus have Oxygen OS on par with the features of Cyanogen, I’m waving good bye to CM.
I used yo despise him and his company, now I hate them. So arrogant.
Bought the phone for Cyanogen, but man McMaster seems arrogant. They need a better spokesperson.
And Cyanogen built their brand on the back, arms, legs, hands and feet of Google. I’ll give them a single finger though. Can you guess which one?
Pointer? Lol
It may be true that many came because of Cyanogen, but they are staying for the great hardware and price. I love the new CM 12s for OnePlus. I wish he would quit talking and come down off his pedestal before he gets knocked off. Pride precedes the fall.
That Kirt guy is the biggest 8====D. Geeks should avoid their products until they dump him.
Cyanogenmod is led by an arrogant prick and I hope that they fail in all of their endeavors.
The claims by Kirt may be a bit arrogant but OnePlus isn’t without their flaws. Their marketing tactics have been extremely questionable and offensive. Their customer service has been non-existent and pathetic at best. While the hardware is great and value for money, you can’t skimp on customer service. I’d rather pay my money where I know I’ll be a valued customer after I’ve paid my money. OnePlus make customers who have issues feel irrelevant and worthless, bad move OnePlus….bad move!
Arrogance aside….. The statement is true. OnePlus would just be another B grade hardware manufacturer in China without cyanogen.
Except that its not B grade hardware…
Your opinion is not wrong.
Psh… riiight. I bought a OPO because it was officially supported by Paranoid Android. I was already sick of CM with my previous two phones. I’m currently rock steady with Oxygen OS now. Cyanogen had nothing to do with _my_ OPO purchase.
He’s right. But arrogant as hell. It would of sold more than one but no where as much. Cyanogens brand had attention
Specs/Price point > cyangenmod
If that’s the case, have you bought something besides a Nexus or Motorola X series phone? Because there are plenty of good phones that are low priced that don’t have CM.
OPO was better than both spec wise at the price point. You’re acting like CM is exclusive to the One. You could flash it on both of those devices as well as the one, if it came w/ another UI.
actually OPO’s CM version is exclusive to to the One.
Trust me, it’s not that great to have that exclusivity.
So I come back to read your comment and I honestly have no idea what I was getting at earlier. Granted I was still sleepy and hadn’t gone to lunch yet. But even I’m confused by what I had said.
There is no phone with 64GB of storage with a 1080p display and snapdragon801 for $350. The reason people wanted the phone was because the specs and price point and was officially being sold outside of China. It could have been running any version of android and would have sold. The kind of people who buy this phone could have flashed cm or any other rom them self. Cm wasn’t the major selling point. Just watch when the second one comes out
^this
as arrogant as he sound, no one would even pay attention to One Plus One if Cyanogen’s name was not attached to it. Would you buy a random chinese android phone?
I’m starting to think about it from what OnePlus One is. It’s a legit phone. I haven’t paid attention to any phones outside the US.
it is a legit phone but what I meant was that people wouldn’t have even notice it if Cyanogen’s name wasn’t attached to it. Also I doubt One Plus as a company would even exist if Cyanogen was not involved. Didn’t Lau resigned from Oppo to build a company that produces android phones that runs CM?
Wrong and wrong.
Yes. I get your point. I was stating that I need to start paying attention to non-US phones.
Incorrect. The ONLY real first reason why this phone was a hit before anyone laid hands on it was the hardware specs mixed with the price tag. Thats the truth…CM came 2nd as a reason to buy
The difference between this and “random chinese android phones” is that this actually had a real snapdragon processor, real camera, and had necessary LTE radios for Att/T-mobile. If you look at any other companies, they miss the mark on one or more of those key pieces.
I have, just preordered an Alcatel Idol 3 matter of fact. If there were more viable options from overseas I would gladly support them.
And this wasn’t some ‘random Chinese Android phone’, they got the media on board to give us updates and we found out that Oppo was an affiliated company.
For anyone that follows phones religiously, they recognize major manufacturers no matter the nation.
They should get rid of CM and get ParanoidAndroid. I liked that one more when I use stock.
Cyanogen mod is buggy where as aosp oxygen os is way stable. Cyanogen would not exist with out Google ..McMaster is a douchbag
The CEO has a really big mouth. Quite obnoxious
Dude, could he sound like more of a prick? Come on, your ROM really isn’t THAT amazing.
he finks it iz :)
Dude is a d-bag. I wanted a OPO, but not because of CM, which I’ve never used, but because of the hardware and pricepoint.
Just for that I’ll be picking up a Oneplus Two in order to support Oneplus.
CM is good but it’s not a necessity. I picked up the OPO due to value and specs, and I was actually liking CM because I like to support the little guy. But they’re not the little guy anymore and have a huge mouth.
They need to recall the buggy crap software that they released initially, they need to drop a few pegs on that pedestal.
I would gladly support more Chinese/import devices as long as they have the support, hardware, and ease of purchase. I’m still waiting for something official from Yota in the States, but I’m losing hope. Hence why I preordered the Alcatel Idol 3 recently, good deal and good specs.
like many, i got the OnePlus not because of CM. in fact, in some aspects, i found CM to be a pain. there were many complaints via their official JIRA that was never resolved properly. then there are other things as well…
anyway, not every story ends with “happily ever after”. so, it’s OK.
but OnePlus needs to really buck and and grow up quickly. the replacement OS (Oxygen) sadly, isn’t that impressive as well.
wow what a prick. makes me feel bad for having their rom on my phone. their software definately doesnt make the phone great, the hardware and the price does. And I didnt hear of oneplus because of cm, but because they were offering a high end phone with a low price tag. As soon as I find another good rom I’ll be sure to remove cm, cause with them having such a big mouth I dont want to support them.
Cyanogen hasn’t been the great rom it once was for a while now. It’s still good but certainly not the best and absolutely not the sole reason to buy OPO. I’ve bought OPO knowing that Cyanogen might not support it in India but I could care less. There are far better ROMs available and a company that allows you to root/flash ROMs without breaking warranty is nothing less than awesome.
Besides the flagship specs at an amazing price, great build quality, Now with their own Oxygen ROM made by great bunch of people behind the superb ParanoidAndroid there’s no looking back. It’s only going to get better. As for Cyanogen… Microsoft has got it claws in and you know where it’s going next…
Soon there will a deafening silence from the motor mouth and it’ll be such a relief!
If it would be just for CyanogenMod, you could buy almost any recent smartphone, since the CyanogenMod community is so big, they (officially or unofficially ) support most of the current Snapdragon smartphones.
The reason the OnePlus One got so successful is because of the specs it offered for it’s price.
This, combined with its really outstanding design, made it one of best smartphones in 2014.
I think the flagship features for $299 was the most compelling reason
Ho McMasters… the guy who wants to kill google’s android, when all of his business is based on google’s work… Smart man for sure.
Its really disappointing by cyanogen spokesperson..
Why realizing now that They would not sell a single without them..
I am sure they had an agreement before burning Cyanogen ROMs into one plus.
So don’t say..such things.
Feel pride.having good time with One Plus.
So Cyanogen screws over OnePlus, the first partner that believed in them by blocking them out of India. Then they trash them publicly. Kirt is a tool and a clown. I’m rooting against Cyanogen. They need to fire the pentulant child that is Kirt McMaster.