It's remarkable what KaiOS has achieved when the behemoths like Microsoft, Blackberry who tried to become the 3rd player in the smartphone OS wars failed. KaiOS

It's remarkable what KaiOS has achieved when the behemoths like Microsoft, Blackberry who tried to become the 3rd player in the smartphone OS wars failed. KaiOS is now holds the 2nd position in India. Cyanogenmod had a slim chance to pull off what KaiOS did, as it took a similar first approach but failed miserably with its exclusivity agreement with two companies (OnePlus & Micromax)! But the growth of KaiOS came from Reliance Jio telecom in India, which sold for ~20 USD returnable deposit, cheap LTE data, upgradable to newer models and of course unlimited voice calls. The feature set in Jio Phone may not be comparable to even decade old android, but the target population were getting their first Internet/computing device. Reliance Jio has invested in KaiOS with 16% stake, KaiOS probably had no choice. WhatsApp was 'THE' most 'missed' app on JioPhone 1 which was eventually rectified in the future iterations. Reliance likely has an exclusivity with WhatsApp on that, since WhatsApp doesn't seem to be available on KaiOS in other regions. Reliance Jio might access developing market outside India in the future, bringing with itself the JioPhone and the KaiOS.