BLU working with Cyanogen on an Android phone without Google apps

Cyanogen's CEO, Kirt McMaster has announced that, the company would be working with smartphone maker BLU. BLU is an American based company that manufactures mid-range Android smartphones to suit a wide variety of consumer needs.

The companies will launch a new smartphone later this year with CyanogenMod as OS. The main highlight of the smartphone will be it will not include any Google services or appps. 

The BLU made Cyanogen smartphone will come pre-loaded with Amazon's Appstore for Android for downloading apps and games, Opera's web browser, Nokia Here for maps and navigation, Dropbox and Microsoft's OneDrive for cloud storage, spotify for music, Bing for search and Microsoft's Cortana as virtual personal assistant. Other details of the smartphone is still a mystery.

This is part of Cyanogen's plan to take Android away from Google by making users less reliant on Google for their services. Kirt McMaster in an interview to Forbes said, "We're putting a bullet through Google's head."

Android controlled by Google is an open-source software which is pulled down by the fact that device makers are forced to use Google apps like Gmail, Chrome browser and YouTube even if they don't desire to do so. Not only that, the apps are placed in such a way that users feel nearly forced to use them. 

This is where startups like Cyanongen appeal in the first place and a strategy like this could be a win win.

CyanogenMod is currently available on a handful of smartphones that include Alcatel OneTouch Hero 2+, OnePlus One and Micromax's Yu Yurka.

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative