This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 62%. (I'm a bot)

Having invested heavily in Cyanogen in January, as reported by the Inquisitr, Microsoft is now partnering with Cyanogen to put Microsoft productivity apps on Cyanogen-powered Android phones in place of the usual Google suite, integrating apps such as Outlook, Office, Skype, Bing, OneDrive, and OneNote with the basic Android operating system.

Traditionally speaking, smart phone manufacturers bundle the phone with native apps; Android phones get Google apps, iOS devices get Apple.

It remains to be seen how much benefit Microsoft will see from getting their primary app suite on more Android phones right out of the gate, but even if Cyanogen is only bundled on a few Android phones, it will help Microsoft to reach people that they normally wouldn't otherwise, particularly with apps such as Skype whose use grows virally; and with Microsoft already receiving billions of dollars in revenue from their Android patents yearly, their partnership with Cyanogen seems to be a win-win for everyone.

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