Firefox Mobile Threatens Mobile App Stores, Says Mozilla

Barence writes "Mozilla claims that its new Firefox Mobile browser could be the beginning of the end for the hugely popular app stores created by Apple and its ilk. Mozilla claims Firefox Mobile will have the fastest Javascript engine of any mobile browser, and that will allow developers to write apps once for the web, instead of multiple versions for the different mobile platforms. 'As developers get more frustrated with quality assurance, the amount of handsets they have to buy, whether their security updates will get past the iPhone approval process ... I think they'll move to the web,' Mozilla's mobile VP, Jay Sullivan, told PC Pro. 'In the interim period, apps will be very successful. Over time, the web will win because it always does.'"

Comments

Deja Vu

[tverbeek]

This sounds like Steve Jobs before he announced that the iPhone would be supporting native apps and not just web apps. It already had a pretty fast, capable browser, and there were hardly any apps for it. Within a week of shipping an SDK, there were hundreds.

Re:web-app-web

[Beardo the Bearded]

Marshmallows are made with gelatin, which is made from meat. (Technically, it's the ground cartilage of food-grade animals)

Vegetarians and vegans won't eat marshmallows because they are basically meat and sugar.

Re:Give me a break, you just made that up.

[Marcika]

Sorry but you are wrong. The iPhone has 17% of the mobile share globally, 50% of the global app usage, and an insane 65% of the mobile HTML request. Unlike you I did the research instead of making shit up. Want the source? Here

Sorry, but the MorganStanley slide is talking about 'smartphone' share - and not even market share but _shipment_ share. I am very sure that my current phone along with hundreds of millions of other SonyEricsson or Nokia phones didn't count in their survey, although they've been dealing with GMail or Google Maps just fine years before the iPhone was a glimmer in Steve's eye.

In short: GP is very likely closer to the truth than you are.

If it was surpassed in Japan, why so popular?

[SuperKendall]

It has only 3-4% percent of the global market share, and technologically already was surpassed when it came to the market in Japan

True that it currently has 3-4% of global market share of all phones - but here you are talking about Java, which does not run on all phones either. So why not speak to the smartphone percentage, which is more like 20%.

As for Japan, if it was surpassed years ago then why is it so popular there? It's not number one (that's a list updated every week), but it's been in the top ten ever since it was pointed out that it reached number one.

In the real world, not many people care about the App Store or the iPhone.

Except for thirty or forty million users worldwide. By all means feel free to leave them to me.

I'm just stating the facts as I know them from actually being in the market, and keeping up to date, because I need that to make a living.

I think you need to do a better job keeping up. I'm in the market as a full time mobile developer, so my living depends on this too...

when you already have fast Java with accelerated OpenGL, EAX-like audio support, and tons of functions. (Be aware that as much of it is accelerated, Java on mobile phones is vastly faster per raw CPU power, than on desktop VMs.)

You won't find a much bigger Java fan than myself. But the reality is that even if you have some of that on every platform, you have almost no platforms that offer all of that - and the testing required across so many devices makes "reality" that you have to target a handful. Real-world apps are moving in droves to the iPhone/Android, and only the simplest apps or some games are still going to J2ME platforms.

Now if you are including Android in there it's a different matter, but it's really different than J2ME.

All that said... I agree with your conclusion that the mobile browser app market is just not compelling compared to the iPhone or Android - or even J2ME. They'd have to add a ton of stuff just to get close and the native platforms swill simply always be ahead of the game.