#“Cyanogenmod - The Community Android Firmware - Now 1 million users!”
As a longtime Cyanogenmod user even I’m a bit shocked by this number.
We at CyanogenMod are thrilled to have reached 1 million unique and active users.Thank you.
— Keyan (@kmobs) January 12, 2012
In case you aren’t aware of it, Cyanogenmod is a community built version of Android AOSP (Android Open Source Project). Every time Google releases a new version of Android, they release the source code shortly afterwards so that anyone can build a phone or phone software using it. There are hundreds if not thousands of community projects which take this code and port it in different ways to all the different handsets.
Cyanogenmod is the best known and usually the best. You get lots of great extra features, usually a speed improvement and most importantly, it excludes all those HTC/Samsung/Motorola bloatware UIs that those manufacturers insist on adding to their phones.
Cyanogenmod is also fantastic for getting the latest version of Android on to old unsupported phones. I’ve even run Gingerbread 2.3 on my old HTC G1 which was the first ever Android phone.
But I’ve always seen Cyanogen as a niche geek thing that would never have big numbers. I assumed the hassle of rooting your phone so you can install it was too much for most people. But 1m users is stunning. I could see this number going through the roof if a bunch of no-name Chinese phone makers use it and release $50 no-contract Android phones this year.
Well done to Steve Kondik and all of the Cyanogenmod teams out there. We’re all eagerly looking forward to CM9 which is the Cyanogenmod version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.