"Apple Killer" Smartisan "OS" Gets $11.5 Million in Funding

Smartisan OS' CEO Lou Yonghao announced that the so-called "Apple Killer OS" Smartisan has recently received 70 million Yuan or $11.5 million in funding from the Shanghai investment firm Buttonwood Capital, according to Tech in Asia.

The Smartisan OS is actually just a custom Android ROM just like Cyanogenmod or Xiaomi's own MIUI or dozens of others. The ROM has nevertheless been massively hyped in China due at least in part to Lou Yonghao who is an internet celebrity in China due to his controversial and often shut down blog network, Bulldog.cn

Lou Yonghao reportedly said during Smartisan OS' reveal that "[Its] objective is to kill off Apple eventually" and that the company would release its own devices that would ship with the new Android skin. While according to the Chinese news site Sina Tech, Chinese consumers are less than excited about it, someone at Buttonwood Capital is buying into the hype, judging by their large investment.

The Smartisan OS ROM is currently available for download in alpha form for five different phones, including the OPPO Find 5, the Samsung Note 2 and the Xiaomi Mi 2/2S on its official site.

What do you think, can the Apple killing Android skin make any headway with the new source of funding?

[Source]