Already 18 operators have committed support to Mozilla's Firefox OS, and smartphones running the system will soon be launched by Telefonica (Spain, Latin America), T-Mobile (first in Poland), Telenor (first in East Europe) and America Movil. Other operator partners include China Unicom, Hutchison (3) and Etisalat. Notably absent are France Telecom/Orange, Vodafone and Tele2.
The Firefox smartphones will run Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm and use the HTML5 web standard. The first manufacturers will be TCL (with the Alcatel One Touch brand), LG and ZTE. Telefonica is also talking to Huawei, and Sony Mobile is interested. Mozilla will have its own app store as well, the Firefox Marketplace.
Telefonica claims: "Firefox OS marks a significant milestone for the mobile industry, enabling for the first time devices to be manufactured to totally open web standards. It provides an alternative to current, closed mobile ecosystems that lock consumers in. (...) Firefox OS is a hugely important strategic initiative to change the prevailing value chain in the digital world. It is a major step to bring balance back to the telco sector, an initiative with strong cross-industry support."
It's clear operators would like to help another operating system gain a foothold, alongside Apple, Google and its partners, Microsoft and BlackBerry. Reduced subsidies will be an important aim, but more expensive devices will also be launched.
Google is an important partner for Mozilla, as the Google search engine is built into the Firefox browser, which generates Mozilla's revenues. However Google has gone its own way with Chrome (browser and OS) and Android (mobile OS). Android, acquired in 2005, was further developed through the Open Handset Alliance (2007). This left Mozilla to develop its future on its own, resulting now in the Firefox OS, linked to the Firefox browser. Mozilla is promoting search as a major feature of the OS: "... revolutionary new search capability. This delivers a deep and contextual search that allows customers to search both within apps and on the web at the same time. For example, search for a music artist and get results to buy songs, concert tickets or even listen to them instantly without the need to install any apps." The question is whether Google is behind this, or if Mozilla, the same as Google, is going its own way.
Mozilla is in the news for other reasons as well. It's working with AT&T to make calls from within the Firefox browser possible, using the new WebRTC standard (RTC: real-time communications). In short, Mozilla is still a relevant player, with a significant market share for the Firefox browser. With the support of operators, the Firefox OS could become an important alternative on the mobile market. And even Google should benefit from this, if it secures a place for its search engine in the project. The big questions remain though: is Firefox OS good for consumers (user friendly)? Will be Mozilla be able to encourage creative developers to work on its platform? And how strongly will the operator partners push the new handsets?
