Nutshell:

Cyanogen, the company that makes the forked Android Cyanagenmod OS, is reportedly in the middle of laying off around 20 percent of its workforce , including heavy losses in the division working on the open source OS.

Context:

AndroidPolice says that company insiders say a “pivot” to apps is the most likely future for the company, though no further indication of how this might be achieved was laid out.

Cyanogen’s clearly in a tough spot – while its OS is loved by loyal fans, its heyday is arguably behind it. When Android was lacking key features and customization options that you desperately wanted, rooting your phone and installing Cyanogen was a whole lot more worthwhile. With Android as a now considerably more capable platform in its default state, that need just doesn’t exist to the same extent any more.

There’s no confirmation the company is winding down the OS, but it’ll be impossible to keep it updated and building new versions with a skeleton crew.