When you look at Android, I like to think that there are three types of users. There’s the person who couldn’t care less about what operating system in on their phone, they just need something that lets them talk, text, and browse the web. Then there’s the semi-enthusiast, the kind of guy or gal that uses Android because of all the cool things it enables, but while this person likes their gadget, they don’t love their gadget. Which brings me to the hardcore user, the folks who flash a new custom ROM every other day and regularly communicate with their Android phone via a USB cable and a command line terminal.

CyanogenMod is currently for the hardcore, but they want to break into the mainstream. How will they do that? We’ve already seen the launch of the one click installer, which allows anyone to put CyanogenMod on their phone by simply double clicking a Windows executable file, but that’s still too much for most. The real next step is to make actual devices.

Oppo was long thought to be the Chinese company that will help CyanogenMod realize their dreams of becoming a handset OEM, but now it looks like that’s no longer the case. CyanogenMod published a Google+ post last night confirming they have a new hardware partner, but they fail to mention who. We’ll find out “in the coming news”.

Who can it possibly be? Oppo’s VP just resigned and rumors say he’s going to start a new company. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots here.