To evaluate OS, cost, time to market, and customization are three major concerns of OEM/ODM. William Liang pointed out that it has got to be taken the product positioning as the top priority.

“Generally speaking, for the mid-tier and high-end products, they will choose Android Open Source Project (AOSP) in a bid to use Google’s cloud computing service. Whereas CM will be chosen more as an OS of entry-level products, and products that made in China, or the customization.” said William Liang.

William Liang explained that for entry-level products and products that made in China are lower in cost, as well as CM has no need to pass the CTS/GMA certification, which saves the time to market. What’s more, Google’s service is prohibited in China, as long as CM to cooperate with the cloud service provider, such as BAT, it will probably make a profit out of it.

Regarding the customization, William Liang claimed the applications besides smartphones and tablets, especially the smart devices and smart applications, or even the Internet of Things (IoT) are also chances of CM.

However, there are still challenges of CM, one of which is that it’s been widely considered as a follower and copycat of Google’s AOSP. Moreover, it still needs more acceptance from users to create the economy of scale.