In the world of mobile apps, the usual practice is a stand-alone experience that integrates with the overall operating system. Cyanogen plans to change the game as it launched a new MOD platform that gives developers the ability to integrate their apps into the OS itself.
Cyanogen's idea is to give the app developers a bigger playing field. This will give them the chance to marry their apps to the OS, giving the users a more enhanced experience.
This integration comes without a risk of security that is why the company is only working with a small number of developers. However, it will open the platform to all developers in the long run, as reported by The Crunch. The company sees this advancement as the evolution of apps that will do away with the post-app era.
According to Android Central, the company's plan is to have the developers take the apps to the next level by removing barriers that prevent it to be integrated with the OS. They are hoping that these mods will offer extended functionality over the old-fashioned downloaded apps.
One developer that Cyanogen is working with right now is Skype. Using the MOD to integrate with the app, users now have the option of making a call from the Android dialer or over directly to the Skype dialer. This means that instead of having a native Android dialer, users can now directly make a call straight from the Skype app itself. As reported by Venture Beat, Stephen Lawler, Cyanogen's vice president for engineering, said they are democratizing the app world.
Cyanogen also worked with Instagram and Cortina and built them their very own mod. The team integrated Cortina's voice activation feature which lets users take a selfie using only a voice command and do away with the frisky buttons of the device.
As of the moment, Cyanogen and Cyanogen OS are still in rough waters. It is yet to be seen if investors, as well as app developers, will dig into the new idea of a new platform. Experts, on the other hand, are looking forward to this interesting approach that the company is undertaking and it will be up to the OS vendors if they, too, will be willing to take on the same road.
