OnePlus, Cyanogen and Micromax settle legal issues, OnePlus One to receive Cyanogen updates in India

Update: Now, we get to learn that all the legal issues between OnePlus and Cyanogen have been resolved, including the ones where Micromax was involved. So, the OnePlus One in India is now going to receive Cyanogen OS updates, and we are yet to know about the future of OxygenOS.

As given in the blog post,

Five months hence, we are happy to confirm today that all legal proceedings have been resolved and the cases have been withdrawn through mutual consent. We hate donning suits and ties anyways. To make things sweeter, we would like to re-assure our customers and fans in India that our flagship phone, the “OnePlus One” will continue to receive OTA updates from Cyanogen in-line with our users in markets around the world.

Earlier: on Dec 9th, 2014
The partnership between Micromax and Cyanogen for the upcoming Yu series was already known, but something that most of us didn’t know, was the fact that Cyanogen is taking away all its support from devices in the near future, and it has granted exclusive rights in India to Micromax, leaving OnePlus helpless about it.

Update: A couple statements from Cyanogen team about this, and they are back to the same point that the devices in India are not going to receive the official Cyanogenmod updates.

Since we clarified our support for OTA firmware updates for OnePlus One global devices, we’ve received a number of inquiries regarding OnePlus One devices sold in India.

As we had pledged to our users, OnePlus One global devices will receive our OTA firmware updates. If a user in India purchased a OnePlus One global device in channels outside of India, they will receive our OTA firmware updates. However, this excludes OnePlus One regional devices sold directly in India. We are committed to our exclusive partnership in India with Micromax, which will be launching its first Cyanogen OS device under their new YU brand.

Earlier:

A letter from Carl (co-founder of OnePlus) to the Indian users explains:

Just last month, on October 7, Cyanogen released the 38R OTA update which included SAR values inside phone settings to comply with Indian regulations. Therefore, it was surprising and disappointing to hear from Cyanogen on November 26 that they had granted exclusive rights in India over the Cyanogen system to another company. Prior to this, OnePlus and Cyanogen have successfully cooperated to release the OnePlus One or carry out commercial operations in 17 countries and regions (including India). It is truly unfortunate that a commitment we both made to our Indian users will now not be upheld.

This isn’t going to change the launch date of OnePlus One in India, as the device is going to be available from December 2nd, but major changes would happen in the OS. One of the much loved factors about the OnePlus One was always the CyanogenMod. Now, OnePlus is helpless about the situation.

We can’t explain Cyanogen’s decision because we don’t fully understand it ourselves. But we can explain exactly how we’ll continue offering our fans in India an amazing user experience and support for this device.

What is clear from OnePlus, is that they are building a new ROM which is said to be stable, fast, and lightweight and it will be based on Android Lollipop version. It is said to be bloatware-free and only carry the features important to the users, and they will stick to the Material Design. We will commit to at least two years of support for the OnePlus One, starting from the release of our first community build.

So, if you are an Indian user thinking of purchasing a OnePlus One, here’s in short what you need to understand – The OnePlus One in India will be running CyanogenMod until February 2015 and till then, there will be no software update from Cyanogen team for it. By that time, OnePlus is going to finish their own ROM and that is what would be available for the OnePlus One devices in February.

The support is promised by the OnePlus team, for the future devices. When our system reaches a production-grade build, we will identify where larger clusters of our users are, and set up stations where we’ll meet you face to face and help you flash your existing OnePlus One to the new system. Of course, we will also offer online instructions for those who prefer to flash their devices from the comfort of their homes.

Check out the OnePlus One review.

Devices that are sold outside India? they are going to keep receiving the support and updates from Cyanogen, and as Carl mentioned, there are some exciting features coming soon in the next update of CyanogenMod. It is only the Indian users who would see the CyanogenMod 11S as the last version in OnePlus One, before getting the new ROM directly from OnePlus in a couple months from now, probably.