Microsoft tries to beat Google by investing in Cyanogen. ROMs.

Windows Phone still hasn’t set the world on fire, so it seems Microsoft is investigating other ways to compete against Google and Apple in the mobile market. Reports are coming in that Microsoft will participate in a round of funding for Cyanogen, Inc. — the commercial enterprise that formed out of the CyanogenMod community. This will only give Microsoft a minority stake in the company, but this could hint at large changes for one of the largest tech companies in the world.

Over at the Wall Street Journal, a few nuggets of information have come to light regarding Microsoft’s decision to help fund this fork of Android. Details are slim, but sources claim that Microsoft will be a “minority investor” in Cyanogen’s latest round of funding (estimated at $70 million). At the very least, this is Microsoft hedging its bets. On the other hand, maybe there’s more to this story. Microsoft might just be laying the groundwork for a future without Windows Phone.

Earlier this week, Microsoft released the first stable version of Office on Android. Similarly, the brand new mobile version of Outlook debuted on iOS. Microsoft is well aware of which way the wind is blowing, and it seems increasingly focused on delivering top-tier support to competing platforms. Since Windows Phone reportedly only has 3% of mobile marketshare, it’s easy to see why Redmond has shifted its priorities.

Over the last few years, Cyanogen has been busy partnering with hardware manufacturers across the globe. Specifically, this small company is focused on expanding in emerging markets where the established players haven’t taken over yet. By Strategy Analytics’ account, roughly 37% of Android devices worldwide are using off-brand forks, so there’s obviously a lot of money at stake here. If Microsoft can get a piece of that massive pie, all the better for its shareholders.

With free access to Office and free upgrades to Windows 10, Microsoft is bowing to market realities. Google Docs and OS X make it increasingly difficult for Microsoft to sell its products outright. Instead, money has to come from subscriptions services and support contracts. None of that is inherently bad, but clearly the Microsoft of 2015 shows little resemblance to the Microsoft of ten or twenty years ago.