Cyanogen Inc. today at Mobile World Congress announced the launch of MOD, a new mobile platform that will let developers create “mods” and implement them natively into Cyanogen OS.
MOD will allow developers to take advantage of available APIs to create more intelligent 3rd party apps. Many applications are pretty straightforward as far as features go, but that’s largely because these developers and applications don’t have access to the APIs of the operating system. A good example of this would be Microsoft and its voice assistant Cortana.
Microsoft ended up having to remove the “Hey Cortana” feature from Android because it didn’t work well. This is largely because of the Android developer restrictions, not letting applications be embedded in the Android operating system. But, with MOD, Microsoft would be able to leave the “Hey Cortana” feature in the voice assistant if a smartphone is running Cyanogen OS. This is because Microsoft is able to use system-level APIs to embed that voice integration into the operating system.
The Redmond-based company will be an early adopter of Cyanogen’s new MOD platform–likely because of a recent partnership–initially creating Cortana, OneNote, and Hyperlapse mods with the new platform.
Cyanogen plans on rolling out the MOD platform next month to smartphones and tablets running Cyanogen Mod 13 or higher.
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We’ve got the press release below.
Cyanogen Introduces MOD to Usher in the Post-App Era
Barcelona, Spain — February 22, 2016 — Cyanogen Inc., a global leader in mobile computing, today announced at Mobile World Congress the launch of MOD™, an integrated mobile platform that is going to change the way users, developers, OEMs, and MNOs build and interact with their mobile devices. The new platform will introduce mods — intelligent, contextually aware, and lightweight experiences built natively into the mobile operating system.
As mods, 3rd party applications that were previously isolated can now take advantage of platform APIs to implement unique experiences directly within Cyanogen OS™. Users can install a variety of mods to extend the functionality of their devices. For example, through Cyanogen’s partnership with Microsoft, a user can install the Skype® mod directly into their dialer to add VoIP calling functionality or they can install the Cortana™ personal assistant mod to power features like voice-activated selfies.
In addition, to expand the availability of the MOD platform, Cyanogen is announcing a new partner program called MOD Ready™ to accelerate development time of new devices and services.
The Start of the Post-App Era
Under the current regime of mobile operating systems, only a select group of apps are allowed to natively integrate into the OS. With mods, barriers to deeper integration are removed and developers can now unleash the full potential of their applications across the OS. With mods, users can conveniently access their workout playlist with voice-activation, schedule a ride-sharing service from within their calendar, and make a video conference call from their contacts list. The system will even nudge users to install the perfect mod to help you complete the task at hand. These are just a few examples of how MOD provides an engaging and simplified experience with a phone that learns and reacts to your behavior.
“Thinner bezel, better biometrics, faster processors….changes never cease, yet many people are still bored with their devices. Why is this? We think people are intuitively looking for a more natural way to interact with them. MOD enables this by effectively creating a new runtime, a new way to build services for the Android super platform,” said Kirt McMaster, CEO & Co-Founder of Cyanogen. “According to some estimates, by 2020 Android’s scale will be greater than Facebook and iOS combined. A single platform that touches over 4 billion people around the world, enabling them to do practically everything. But apps, as they exist today, can be boring and single-minded. Mods are something entirely different. We are excited to be working with many partners around the world who understand the new vision of computing that MOD enables for Android and we look forward to seeing the innovations that arise from it.”
“Our partnership with Cyanogen is part of our ambition to provide great digital experiences to customers across all of their devices, in all aspects of their lives,” said Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft. “MOD reinvents productivity for Android users by giving them access to the power of Microsoft’s services in an engaging and modern way.”
MOD Ready Brings Speed and Scale to OEMs and MNOs
To accelerate time-to-market for devices running MOD, Cyanogen has created MOD Ready, a scaling program that enables OEMs and MNOs to rapidly launch phones across a broad range of chipset platforms. MOD Ready will help both partners and in-house engineering teams preserve existing investments in hardware, Board Support Package (BSP), component drivers/tuning, and supply chain.
As part of the MOD Ready program, Cyanogen will provide a Platform Development Kit (PDK) consisting of all the major components needed to launch a MOD enabled device. In addition, Cyanogen will work closely with major chipset providers to update the PDK roadmap with new chipsets on a quarterly basis. Since Cyanogen OS is CTS-compliant, MOD Ready devices will allow partners to take advantage of the existing Android ecosystem.
“MOD is a giant leap forward in innovative and outside-the-box thinking,” said John Sculley, Co-Founder of Obi. “We are excited to work with Cyanogen to bring MOD Ready devices to our global customers, who crave a premium user experience and an ability to customize over all else.”
“As an early supporter of Cyanogen and having launched our first device, BQ X5, in Spain and Germany, and soon to come in the United Kingdom, we love the fact that Cyanogen OS puts control over the experience and particularly, privacy and security in the hands of the customer. The evolution to MOD is the next chapter in this journey, enabling our customers to choose the services they love and have them natively integrated on the device. We truly believe that MOD brings the best possible Android experience to our customers and promotes an open, innovative, and level playing field,” said Francisco Montalvo, Director of Group Devices Unit, at Telefonica.
Life After Apps Starts Now
In addition to the Cortana and Skype mods, first-generation mods will also include a Microsoft Hyperlapse mod for smooth and stabilized first-person videos, a OneNote® mod for seamless dialer, browser, email, and calendar note taking, a Truecaller™ mod for spam messaging, and social lockscreen mods.
The MOD Ready Program is available now for OEM and MNO partners. The MOD platform will begin rolling out next month on devices with Cyanogen OS 13.0 or greater.
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