Bing, Skype, Microsoft Office too.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The Palo Alto based custom android OS developing firm Cyanogen announced strategic partnership with Microsoft to provide popular Microsoft services and apps across smartphones running on Cyanogen OS, which is rated as one of the best custom androids till date.
The new relationship with Microsoft will enable Cyanogen to provide services such as Bing, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook and above all Microsoft Office bundled along with the OS. This will benefit users who otherwise download these apps manually from the Google Play Store.
As part of the new strategic relationship, Microsoft has agreed upon creating “native integrations” on Cyanogen OS. Through the native integrations Microsoft will see an increase in the use of its apps and services. This has been in the testing phase for quite some time and Microsoft had experimented number of Android apps and even tested a Next Lock Screen to replace the traditional Android lock screen.
Kirt McMaster, CEO of Cyanogen Inc. said, “People around the world use Cyanogen’s operating system and popular Microsoft services to engage with what matters most to them on their mobile devices. This exciting partnership with Microsoft will enable us to bring new kinds of integrated services to mobile users in markets around the world.”
Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Microsoft Corp. said, “We aspire to have our tools within arm’s reach of everyone, to empower them in all aspects of their lives. This partnership represents another important step towards that ambition. We’ll continue to deliver world-class experiences across productivity and communications on Windows, and we’re delighted that Cyanogen users will soon be able to take advantage of those same powerful services.”
This is not the first time that Microsoft is partnering with companies that sell android based devices. Earlier, Microsoft had partnered with Samsung for preloading its apps and services in the newly launched Galaxy S6 devices; this after the relation between Samsung and Google jittered after a series of royalty disputes. The Verge reported that Dell is also planning to bundle Microsoft services along with its android based devices.