Mozilla Creates Its Own OS for Phones

Speculators say the Mozilla Firefox OS phone will only nab one percent of the market share.

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e've already been wrestling over iOS and Android phones, and now, Mozilla says they'll be throwing their proverbial hat into the ring next year, with a Firefox OS phone hitting the market in early 2013. Sounds great for all you techies out there, but will the average person care at all, let alone buy it?

The smartphones that feature the new Firefox OS will be manufactured by TCL Communication Technology, based in Hong Kong, under its Alcatel One Touch brand, and by China's company, ZTE.

Several carriers have signed on to carry the phones, including Sprint here in the U.S.—a carrier not known for its popularity, unfortunately. It will also be carried by Germany's Deutsche Telekom, Abu Dhabi's Etisalat, the Phillipines' Smart Communications, Italy's Telecom Italia, Spain's Telefonica, and Norway's Telenor—so, as you can see, it has the potential to be a global endeavor at some point.

Would you use a Firefox OS phone?

The Firefox OS has been built using HTML5, and each feature or function on the phone (like texting and calling) is a separate HTML application that runs within the system. If it sounds complex, it's not—HTML 5 is the developing standard.

Some carriers say that they will be able to sell the phones at a lower price than other smartphones.

"Firefox Mobile OS can help us drive an HTML5-based platform for creating lower-cost smartphone options for prepaid, postpaid, and wholesale customers," Fared Adib, Sprint's product chief, said.

The OS will be in the same category as Google's Android platform, since smartphone makers won't have to pay for the OS—unlike Apple's iOS which is only available on the iPhone smartphone, this would be applicable to other phones without making manufacturers purchase it.

One analyst, Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates, commented that he thinks the offering is "too late to have any meaningful share," and we tend to agree. With all of the options already out there, it seems strange that people would make a jump to yet another platform. Still others say it will make up for Blackberry's seeming absence from the market, and that, like with most new technology, some people will be interested.