All may not be well at Cyanogen as reports are coming out that the software company seems to be laying off 20 percent of its workforce in an attempt to “pivot to apps.”
Based on reports by Android Police, it appears that the layoffs will mainly affect Cyanogen’s open source arm. Sources from Android Police states that the systems and QA teams in Palo Alto and Seattle have also been heavily cut, with Cyanogen’s smaller offices in Lisbon and India being “essentially gutted.”
The layoffs may also lead to the elimination of CyanogenMod development by the company entirely. While the community could continue to develop CyanogenMod, many of the core CyanogenMod developers at the company will no longer be paid to work on CyanogenMod. As for the pivot to apps, Recode has reported that said pivot is being led by Lior Tal, Cyanogen’s new COO.
[Update]
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
It turns out that Cyanogen may not be pivoting towards apps after all as Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster has taken to Twitter to clarify that Cyanogen will continue to work on OS. Only time will tell if that is truly the case.
Source: Recode, Android Police, Ars Technica