14 DAY TRIAL // Over the weekend, we reported that Cyanogen Inc. was undergoing massive layoffs that caused some to believe that the custom ROM could be risking disruption. Now, it seems that the CEO of Cyanogen Inc., Kirt McMaster, has decided to take to Twitter and make some clarifications.
As it turns out, the CEO says that the company won't be pivoting to apps while reassuring everyone that Cyanogen Inc. is an OS company with the mission to create an open Android.
In a separate post, he mentions that many employees were indeed laid off from the company, but he fails to say how many or from which offices. Cyanogen Inc. has a number of offices in Seattle, Palo Alto, and even overseas, in Lisbon and India.
The statements have been followed by a blog post in which co-founder Steve Kondik says that "CyanogenMod isn’t going anywhere, nor has Cyanogen Inc. discontinued its efforts towards the goal of bringing it to a larger audience."
The co-founder then goes on to talk about CyanogenMod, recalling that the first version of the custom ROM was released seven years ago and that the company doesn't need to "go big" in order to work. He also stresses that he will continue to sponsor the project and have an active role in its development. Besides, co-founder Steve Kondik also mentions that the company surely won't be “pivoting to apps” or shelving CyanogenMod.
Cyanogen NOT pivoting to apps. We are an OS company and our mission of creating an OPEN ANDROID stands. FALSE reporting was outstanding. — Kirt McMaster (@cyanogenone) July 25, 2016
really sad we had to let go of some wonderful folks this week. startups and disruption are brutal. — Kirt McMaster (@cyanogenone) July 23, 2016