After almost a year after announcing it’s working on a $25 Firefox OS smartphone, Mozilla is going back on its word for the device. The device which was expected to launch in countries like India and Indonesia will not be seeing a market release.
In an e-mail sent to employees, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard made this revelation, in his words:
“Today we’re moving into the next phase of Firefox OS, focusing more on the user experience, and tying Firefox OS more deeply into our mission and our community. We will build phones and connected devices that people want to buy because of the experience, not simply the price. And we will seek out opportunities that align with our relentless pursuit of the Mozilla mission, our strategy of building great products & empowering people, and the impact we aim to have in the world.”
Mozilla now has its focus on improving Firefox OS experience for users and would still be making smartphones running the OS but the $25 Firefox OS smartphone is at least dead for now. The company is also contemplating bringing Android app compatibility to the OS, not just all apps – the Key apps would be provided.
Apps are major parts of the devices ecosystem, iOS and Android currently enjoy this superiority and dominates the smartphone and tablet market. Implementing Android App compatibility to Firefox OS could provide more traction but the devices would need more hardware (higher specs) and cannot be priced too cheap again.
Source: CNET
