The highly anticipated OnePlus One smartphone will not continue with CyanogenMod for its devices in India. The company just posted on the OnePlus blog announcing that following a deal between Cyanogen Inc and Indian-manufacturer Micromax, the latter has been granted exclusive rights to the Cyanogen system in the country. OnePlus expressed dismay and disappointment over Cyanogen's deal with Micromax and wrote that the company is now working on its own system for the One, which will be based on Lollipop and will be available in February 2015.
When we reached out to Vikas Agrawal, GM of OnePlus India, he clarified that the OnePlus One will still launch in India as per schedule. According to him, the phone will be launched with CyanogenMod right now, with the beta (community version) of it's own OS being available in December and the stable version in February. OnePlus explained to us that the exclusive partnership with Micromax means that CM won't support the One in India, but OnePlus can still launch the One with the OS. Of course, this means that anyone who purchases the OnePlus One in India next month (Dec 2), will do so without official software support from CyanogenMod.
Micromax also issued a press release announcing the partnership with Cyanogen a while ago. The company though didn’t mention anything about the OnePlus One either. You can read the press release below.
Cyanogen Inc. announces exclusive mobile partnership in India with Micromax
Palo Alto, Calif. – 27th November, 2014 – Cyanogen Inc, a leading mobile OS company, has announced an exclusive partnership in India with Micromax Informatics, the largest Indian mobile brand.
The arrangement highlights the significance of the software-hardware partnership and the shared vision of delivering a whole new class of user-focused mobile device experiences that will immensely benefit the end user. Micromax has announced a new Internet brand YU, which is slated to announce its first device on Cyanogen OS. Cyanogen’s exclusive deal also means that Cyanogen OS will not support any other devices shipping in India with future updates including Lollipop.
The first device from YU slated to be announced in December will also be the first to launch with Cyanogen’s new Themes app, supported by a powerful theming engine that will enable deep levels of UI personalization, andNextbit’s Baton, a revolutionary cloud-syncing app service.
As part of the strategic relationship, Cyanogen Inc. and Micromax are building a game changing experience for Indian consumers and tech enthusiast.
The OnePlus One is supposed to launch in India on December 2, meaning it is only 4 days away. In its blog post, OnePlus expressed surprise (and disappointment) over CM's decision, saying that the company has put in hours to create OTA updates that conform with Indian regulations. CyanogenMod has been a big part of the OnePlus One, being one of the biggest differentiating factors for the device. Read the OnePlus letter on the official blog here.