Mozilla Eyes $25 Smartphone

Mozilla announced last month a new set of new devices and partnerships. The new devices which were added include a Firefox OS powered smartphone line with ZTE, the Open C and Open II, Alcatel OneTouch’s three Firefox OS devices Fire C, Fire E and Fire S. There are currently 21 makers in support of Mozilla’s open web device initiative.

“Firefox OS is off to an amazing start. We launched our first smartphones in July, and have since expanded into fifteen markets,” said Jay Sullivan, chief operating officer of Mozilla. “People in Latin America and Eastern Europe have eagerly upgraded from their feature phones to Firefox OS smartphones and now have rich access to the Web and apps. Sales have far exceeded our targets. But 2013 was just the beginning. In 2014, we are differentiating our user experience and our partners are growing the portfolio of devices. We are also enabling a whole new category of smartphone, priced around $25, that will bring even more people around the world online.”

Mozilla demonstrated the breadth and growth of its Firefox OS open mobile ecosystem at a press event on the eve of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. According to a recent blog post, the event introduced seven new commercial Firefox OS devices and highlighted advancements and partnerships that will enable the platform to scale up in 2014.

According to the post, in the year since MWC 2013, Firefox OS devices have gone on sale in 15 markets with four global operators and handsets from three manufacturers. Firefox OS will be expanding into important new markets in 2014. Telefónica will build on the list of countries where it’s selling Firefox OS phones, with eight more launching this year: Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. Deutsche Telekom will also add four new markets: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia and Montenegro.

“We are excited by the new and highly affordable possibilities enabled by Firefox OS,” said Hongfei Zhao, CEO, Thundersoft, a leading global technology and solutions provider that helps OEMs’ accelerate high quality product development and achieve fast time to market. “We have expanded our services in new areas including support for Firefox OS, enabling new and unique offerings in the mobile Internet device industry and ecosystem.”

Operator support for Firefox OS also continues to expand, as Telkomsel and Indosat have joined the list of 21 key operators across the globe that support the open Web device initiative. That list also includes partners announced last year: América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telefónica, Telenor, Telstra, TMN and VimpelCom.