Before the Nintendo Switch was officially announced, speculations ran rampant, saying that the device would run on Android, but in the end it didn’t turn out that way. Or did it? It seems that this choice was pretty close, according to a Cyanogen chairman.
The official revealed on Twitter that Nintendo contacted Cyanogen to make them a ROM, but they refused the console maker in quite violent fashion. Basically they told Nintendo to “stick it”. It seems that the Switch maker wanted a special flavour of Android, basically an Android-based OS, that would be more locked down. This goes against the principles of the platform, which angered Cyanogen.
Still, even now the console uses bits of Android for its platform, mixed with a custom kernel. If Nintendo was using Google’s OS, then maybe it could have included a web browser, more apps and video streaming services. There’s no way to confirm or deny these rumors, but it sure sounds like something Nintendo would do. Then again, people may have felt that the Switch was too much like an Nvidia slate if it had Android…
