Cyanogen now has more users than Windows Mobile and BlackBerry combined

By Jerry Hildenbrand
last updated

Speaking at the Seattle Code Rush today, Cyanogen's Adnan Begovic dropped the news that with over 50 million users, Cyanogen is in more hands than Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. Combined.

50 Million of anything is a lot. Congrats to the whole Cyanogen team!

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A photo posted by on

Jerry Hildenbrand
Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Twitter.

69 Comments
  • This is just the closed cyanogen os, not the open source cyanogenmod? Posted via Android Central App on 1+1
  • i doubt they have sold fifty million phones with cyanogen os. it has to be rom users included.
    edit: and in the pic it say 50 million and cyanogenmod.
  • 50 million looks great, just forgot to add "Downloads" It's like telling my parents I always had 4 A's in my report card, because they were in my name
  • They literally said "50 million users". No reason to be salty. Posted via the Android Central App
  • i see someone butt hurt.. but why?? thats just a number installed on some devices.
    and they said its users not downloads
  • I'd guess it includes CyanogenMod as they use the cyanogenmod logo on that slide.
  • They meant Windows Phone I guess... Anyway...lol Posted via the Android Central App
  • Was about to say this. "Whoo, more users than an obsolete unused OS." Google knows why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch. And they're willing to sell it to you.
  • I assume this as well, but not putting words into anyone's mouth.
  • Going forward I believe they're going back to the Windows mobile moniker. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Not exactly. They're calling it "Windows 10 Mobile" in an attempt to make people believe that what they'll be using on their phones is full blown Windows 10 when in fact is nothing more than Windows Phone 10.
  • No, they are calling it Windows Mobile because it'll also run on tablets, and therefore can't be called "phone", if devices it runs on might be without calling functionality.
  • They're NOT calling it "Windows Mobile". They're adding "Mobile" after "Windows 10" because, theoretically, the new version of Windows Phone can also run on tablets. The thing is, no one will make tablets running "Windows 10 Mobile" when they can put full Windows 10 in them. If anyone was interested in neutered versions of Windows, Windows RT wouldn't have flopped.
  • The stupid thing is I liked Windows RT because the OG surface and Surface 2 made perfect media devices. Good aspect ratio, quality specs, Windows RT was super light and didn't take up a ton of room. I wish they brought it back with the Surface 3, but alas, full windows. If the apps were there, both of those tablets would have rekt the iPad and Nexus 7's. If. Google knows why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch. And they're willing to sell it to you.
  • Full blown Windows means you can run Bluestacks. Been working great for me. Best of both worlds. Posted via the Android Central App
  • This. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Eh, no. There's Windows 10 and there's Windows 10 for mobile devices which is called Windows 10 Mobile. Nobody is going to think they have Windows 10 on their phone, however the two are getting closer as there will be more and more universal apps.
  • If the intention wasn't to mislead people, they would have called it Windows Phone 10. Because no matter how much they try to twist it around, Windows Phone 10 or "Windows 10 Mobile" is NOT Windows 10. As such, it will have the same limitations Windows Phone has always had.
    By putting "Mobile" after the 10, they lead people into stop reading before they get to the "Mobile" part as people are used to the number being the last moniker in a name. To believe that's not the intention is to be incredibly naïve. As for Universal apps...I reserve judgement on that for later. I HIGHLY doubt Universal apps will boom or have any effect because the type of power that Microsoft is trying to leverage to keep Windows Phone from being buried after its death - the PC power - doesn't work on mobile. The things you do in Windows aren't meant to be done on a phone. And the mobile apps that make platforms popular (Instagram, Snapchat, etc) are NOT designed for desktop/Xbox/tablet use. As such, developers still have no reason to bring their mobile apps to Windows 10 if their apps aren't meant for desktop consumption. In which case their "incentive" is still the 2.7% of WP marketshare.
  • There have been some interesting demos of the desktop to mobile shifting. Can't find a link right now, but they've shown off the different modes before. Funny thing is that the Intel display adapter used in some tablets isn't windows 10 compatible. Couldn't upgrade my wife's older HP/laptop tablet hybrid. Found conflicting info on whether Intel will update the driver. Posted via the Android Central App
  • You know you can follow up on all the news at windowscentral right? picked up a lumia 640XL and installed the insider preview windows 10 and was blown away. Incredible performance for a processor that can be found on my Asus ZenWatch too.
  • they aren't too good at making their own 'stock' software with google services built in, but they do really well on the aosp side.
  • This should have Google worried Posted via the Android Central App
  • why?
  • Because Cyanogen is going to steal Android from Google. Bahahahahahahahaha.... I knew I couldn't type that with a straight face.
  • Lol Posted via the Android Central App
  • Sucks for them the number is counted in the android section. Like Amazon's Android and all the others. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Snap Posted via the Android Central App
  • Haha now that's embarrassing Posted via the Android Central App
  • I wouldn't be surprised if Paranoid Android or OmniROM had more users than WP & BB combined.
  • So, how many users is that? 10?
  • Well 10 that actually have everything working properly. The other 49.9+m are missing things like Bluetooth, sound, radios, screen... Minor things Posted via the Android Central App
  • Cyangenmod is Android and we all know Android is the king. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Wow...... I wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup
  • Isn't this like saying "We have more users than OS 9 and Windows 3.1 combined"?
  • Wrong. Windows Phone broke the barrier of 50 million users in 2013 and never went below it. Source: http://winsupersite.com/windows-phone/windows-phone-device-stats-january...
  • it went below it if you like it or not. windows phone currently has about 2.5% and if you calculate it then its only about 45 million. also here is the total sales of windows phone in 4 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Lumia#Sales
    only 96 million in 4 years. that report is totally wrong I know this is only lumia sales but lumia is 97% of windows phone market
  • That's umm...sad. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Sorry but this just isn't true. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Don't resist the ill informed errant public non fact checking silly assumptions.. just let it flow. This is the church of google, we don't need to look past our walls.
  • WTF is Blackberry?
  • My grandmother showed me one once... ****shudder*** Posted via the Android Central App
  • It's a berry. That's black. Posted via the Android Central App
  • The most humiliating aspect of this from MS' and BB's point of view has got to be that 99% of the people have probably never even heard of Cyanogen[mod]. I imagine far more people have heard of Microsoft and Blackberry. Yet something with no name recognition at all has just eaten their lunch.
  • Only because we're so disappointed with the product that is sold to us by LG, Asus, Google, Samsung, Sony, etc, that we need to put another OS on our phones. If Microsoftmod existed, we'd all be running windows 10 on our android hardware too. Also goes for iOSmod.
  • Windows phone users will be pretty sad to here this !!! Posted via the Android Central App
  • I think there's a reason they went with Windows Mobile and not Windows Phone.
  • Yep, They may be looking to build the phone stack into the desktop OS and the desktop OS into the phone. At least from what I'm reading around the web. You'll be able t put your LTE sim into your Surface Pro and make phone calls too. Actually, I don't know about everyone else, but I'm excited to see Cyanogenmod doing this. Hoping it inspires Microsoft to release a rom for and devices that I can download as well...
  • Isn't Microsoft doing a "rom thing"? They just announced full rom for Xiaomi MI4. If that gets well received they might do it for other phone too.
  • LOL what? Are they confusing quarterly marketshare figures with total number of users? In other news, Angry Birds 2 sold had 20 million downloads in a week. What are we actually trying to talk about again? Don't get me wrong, good for them for 50M. If I went to another OS, I would consider Cyanogen.
  • Yeah, a lot of teenagers in this world, so makes sense.
  • Nice generalization, but you're probably wrong about the CM demo. Just as most people wrongly think that "gamers" are teens, when the average gamer age is actually 30-something.
  • Does it matter? Posted via the Android Central App
  • Good to see them doing well... it is a good solution for users.
    I don't know where he got his figures from?
    If he means in use which I think he does then 50m is not enough for WP alone as they sell about 33m a year so even on a 2 yr cycle (3 more likely) then its 70% or half.
    But I hope they do well as its a better choice in the droid market.
  • How are they counting Cyanogenmod users? I used Cyanogenmod. For a day.
  • did you reboot at all? because they count reboots.
  • WGAF? Its all spin anyway.
  • I doubt it very much! Posted via the Android Central App
  • Well, seeing as MS has sold 16 - 20 million WPs this year, I don't think that 50 million Cg devices is higher than the install base
  • I don't care either way about this (I am not a fan or Cyanogen and, despite loving Windows 10, I still see no compelling reason to use Windows phone) but i am curious why you think that figure proves your statement. How many of those 16-20 million were upgrades? # sold doesn't represent total number of added user base. If 10 million people use my OS today and 20 million buy my product next year my user base doesn't magically jump to 30 million users.
  • He's got to be talking about the pre Windows Phone stuff. Pretty sure that Blackberry and MS have sold more than 50 million units over the past few years "combined." I'd like to see some sources.
  • That's funny
  • This success partly explains why Microsoft is now investing in Cyanogen. Can't beat em then join em.
  • Microsoft is not investing in Cyanogen. That was a bogus rumor.
  • No they don't! They are lying through their teeth. In the last two years leading up to Q2 2015, over 70 million Windows Phones have been sold and Microsoft has sold over 100 million.
  • and would have a lot more if they did not mess up earlier...
  • Maybe more Windows Mobile 5.1
    Defiantly not more BlackBerry.
    More than the both combined?
    Likely 80,000,000 - 100,000,000 users each for both WP and BlackBerry... Say No to drugs!
  • not anymore..this is not 2008...
  • Does this include users of cm-based roms (resurrection remix, etc.)? Posted via Android Central App
  • Could have been more if it supported more devices.