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Firefox OS Smartphones Launching, But Will Anyone Buy One?
Nerval's Lobster writes "Mozilla and its hardware partners have begun launching the first Firefox OS smartphones, starting with Spain's Telefonica releasing the ZTE Open later this week. A lightweight mobile OS based on HTML5, Firefox OS (once known as 'Boot to Gecko') offers a user interface instantly familiar to anyone who's used Google Android or Apple iOS: in addition to home-screens of individual apps arranged on a grid, features include messaging, email, built-in social-networking, maps, and the Firefox Web browser. There's also Firefox Marketplace, an online storefront of HTML5 apps; early apps include Twitter, Facebook, AccuWeather, and a handful of games. But can Firefox OS make any headway in a mobile-device crowded with options? At this February's Mobile World Congress, Mozilla claimed that some 17 operators around the world have committed to the Firefox OS initiative, including China Unicom, Sprint, MegaFon, and the Telecom Italia Group. But many of those operators released rather ambiguous statements about whether they would launch an actual Firefox OS smartphone. Tony Cripps, principal device analyst at Ovum, wrote in a research note earlier this year that 'the real acid test for Firefox OS and its long-term prospects is the quality of the software itself and the user and developer experiences that it fosters.' In other words, Mozilla and its partners need to produce some quality devices, paired with a variety of spectacular apps. Some early reviews of the ZTE Open weren't good, to put it mildly, with The Verge citing: 'unremarkable hardware' and a 'laggy' OS. But that doesn't mean future phones can't go toe-to-toe against anything else on the market, provided Mozilla and its partners provide solid support and marketing."
I can't follow why this is a good idea for them.
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Just what the world needs, another phone OS.
There has to be one person out there that will buy one.
I use my phone for talk, text, calendar, alarm, occasional web browsing on the go, random photography, and toilet gaming. I don't need all the exciting social and lifestyle integration that mobile platforms assume you want.
So I'd certainly go for one, provided (a) there's some affordable, nice-ish hardware (like my Nexus 4), and (b) I'm not beholden to the network operator for software updates.
Being free of that pervasive "am I happy with Google slurping this?" feeling every time I do anything on my Android phone would be worth it.
This will be great for some latinamerican countries where you'll need save some salary months for buying a bad/lowend Android phone. Also there are some people who want a simple phone to send sms, call and basic internet stuff and doesn't care OS, just want to save money.
IMO it would make more sense to use Firefox OS as a runtime on other smart phones. This way you could write a HTML 5 APP and it would work on browsers and in the Firefox OS runtime in any smart phone... sort of like what Java was supposed to be.
Any idea if something like this is actually being done?
Together all these niche phones would have a chance, but if all of them want to have their own app store and walled garden, they will all fail.
Also, the default Firefox start page now shows a foxy-looking character lighting a fart in front of a mobile phone.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I use my phone for talk, text, calendar, alarm, occasional web browsing on the go, random photography, and toilet gaming. I don't need all the exciting social and lifestyle integration that mobile platforms assume you want.
So I'd certainly go for one, provided (a) there's some affordable, nice-ish hardware (like my Nexus 4), and (b) I'm not beholden to the network operator for software updates.
Being free of that pervasive "am I happy with Google slurping this?" feeling every time I do anything on my Android phone would be worth it.
I installed avatarrom on my phone. It turns out to be a big problem, as it takes up more and more system memory. I have 2GB available, and avatarrom takes up 1.7GB of that. That leaves 300MB for apps and cache. Many apps refuse to install or don't work anymore. So did Gmail. I stopped using it. Avatarrom updates followed, as well as Gapps updates (google apps I suppose). The last one I didn't install. Since then I'm Google free. No Google account is needed to use the phone. OK, gmail doesn't work, Google Maps is gone, and worst of all, Google Play doesn't work, so no updates, no new installs, unless I download them manually. But they don't work anyway, so why bother? ;-) Of course I'm going to get rid of this stupid install and see if something else works properly. Until then I can pretend to be GFree...
If it does, then it's going to be a hit. If it's doesn't it will not fly.
Currently there are only two kinds of phones: those with WhatsApp and those without.
"But that doesn't mean future phones can't go toe-to-toe against anything else on the market, provided Mozilla and its partners provide solid support and marketing."
So they produced something that sucks, but if they improve what they do, they can produce something in the future that doesn't suck? Why doesn't Microsoft get this kind of encouragement any time they put, oh, almost anything on the market? They could improve their sucky products with hypothetical future efforts too!
since it has been revealed that the Govt via the NSA/FBI and other three letter turds that float around in the govt cesspool i plan on cutting back on technology as much as possible, that means within a few months to a couple of years as my tech toys die i do not plan to replace them, when this desktop PC dies thats it no more desktop PCs, same with my laptop and cellphone, fuck it i dont need them,
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Just what the world needs, another phone OS.
I assume you are being a sarcastic, but the reality is I am sure it does. Right now the whole market is being given to Android, and although Google is not motivated solely by competition, but your time spent in their services. compitition keeps companies honest(look how Microsoft is treating its *cough* customers) Apple are happy to give the market away again, and look to end with a small but profitable niche player, as it was in its now forgotten PC market, or simply will not exist. Personally I think an OS like this has real opportunity(I am more excited by Sailboat...and to a lesser extent Ubuntu). I hope its not blocked by aggressive actions by Microsoft who simply so not have a serious product.
Go look at the desktop version of this site with Firefox 22 for Android and you'll see why Mozilla is going to have a hard time with their OS. It's a mix of Mozilla's poor technical choices (look at the same site with Dolphin HD or the stock browser) and sites caring only about Webkit mobile browsers.
So they produced something that sucks, but if they improve what they do, they can produce something in the future that doesn't suck?
The problem was the review (in context of your Microsoft comments they get a free pass too often and are blocking the market for Fledging OS's), is that A €69 / $90 (including €30 / $39 balance) for prepay customers was not compared as one. These are not flagship products they are aimed at the very bottom of the smartphone market. Now admittedly hardware in that market is getting better. I notice http://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/27/goophone-x1-set-to-be-worlds-cheapest-quad-core-phone-at-less-than-100/ Goophone are planning on selling a quad core phone for $100...but that in an uncertain future.
The bottom line is I saw some pretty advanced phones for very little money.
If they don't capture a chunk of the mobile space they will die.
I really liked your comment, but I think Mozilla has an image problem. Its marketshare on the desktop, is dropping yet its still IMO the best browser, and other than its startup time(which is probably better since I used it last) I loved the firefox mobile browser on both Android and the N900 . If I didn't have to sync through the cloud to get my bookmarks on the phone tablet I would use it in that space.
They seem a great company, and I cannot believe they have such a hard time selling themselves against Microsoft/Google/Apple who are just mega corporations
does anyone using android, aside from a few fanbois, actually care what's under the hood? they use it because
1) it basically works
2) it has a touchscreen and apps
3) it brings internet-age computer apps like browser and email to phones
and manufacturers lined up to use it because:
1) it's free to license and use.
2) see #1
3) see #2
I cant help but think that running everything through a browser interface would have to make the user experience feel relatively laggy and maybe unnecessarily quirky/badly integrated when compared to Android or other smart phones where the app you're interacting with is running natively and doesnt have artificial limitations imposed by needing to go through HTML 5 for everything.
I fully expect 3D HW gaming and maybe multimedia will most clearly demonstrate the Achilles heel of Firefox's approach.
Somehow it feels like an oxymoron to me. Perhaps in comparison to your usual daily Java bloat?
Mood: Depressed.
Firefox needs to focus on their core product more than trying to expand into a marketplace that's completely over their head. There's a reason why people switch to Chrome. For starters, improving the slow startup speed compared to Chrome and Webkit Opera would be awesome.
and the other >1% market share phone manufacturers should get together and release phones that lets the user easily download and install Firefox OS or Android (the free version) or Ubuntu Mobile or any other open source OS.
Apple and Samsung and Nokia will never do it since they do not want to end up making cheap commodity hardware with razor thin margins. But you have zero market share anyways... a small profit is better than none, right?
MS, Google and in 2012 Apple signed up according to the leaks. NONE of them let you compile their software yourself. webkit is just an engine, the apps are not open to compile.
Firefox does things fast enough just like the other browsers are just good enough feature wise to keep simple users happy. I usually can't move faster than firefox but I can't have dozens of useful additions in the other browsers (the main ones have been ported but the cool new ideas still happen as firefox plug-ins 1st.)
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Um, yes. Yes it can. It will be installed on the device. Consider that its headway.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Apple prohibits such app runners.
but what is pretty common is writing a mobile app in html5+javascript and running it inside a shim on ios, android and wp..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
hMM, somethin smells fishy here...... /. of a decade ago would have shown a lot of these commenters to be stooges. thats all folks.
pork-pies can be telling, said the Cockney lad.
But they only have contact Sync with Facebook (and SIM card of course).
I would want a privacy oriented organization to not be pushing people to Facebook...
I have been resisting buying a smartphone for years. The only sensible reason for me to own one would be so that I can tinker with it. Sure you can play around with Android a bit, but I want something that will ease my tinkering rather than try to prevent me. Apple, of course, is straight out because of this. I want a smartphone that I can turn inside out, hack, wipe, reinstall its OS, re-hack, re-wipe and re-install, write small apps for, use to exchange data with, and get creative with its WiFi, bluetooth and accelerometers. And I want all that without fearing of EULAs and other layer mumbo jumbo. And a pony.
Give me such a phone and you have a customer.
I think it's an interesting OS to watch for. I can see similarities with the web. The web seemed to turn into a proprietary format. Firefox stumbled on, but it seemed like an uphill battle that would never succeed. However they did succeed, by just keeping to their goals. The web now is more open then 10 years ago, where you couldn't even access the website of your bank with Firefox.
Now with this OS, it might turn out the same. It's all somewhat closed platforms. Apple uses Obj-C, Android a Java variant. Other platforms use Qt. Now Firefox comes along and uses a platform that is already open, html5/css/js, and uses it for apps.
I just hope the other underdogs follow suit, and use the same API, like Ubuntu, Jolla, Tizen.
We'' lees what the future brings. I think they can do it, and provide a common platform for the future.
Well, don't worry about that. We can get you back before you leave. (Dr. Who)
Assuming you can't convert the laguage to apps easily to English then it's really only going to sell in Spain (I would assume) and given their economy is one of the worst in Europe I'm not sure people are jumping at the chance to buy new smart phones. Though if it's cheap I guess that might work in their favour.
Spoiler, for those of you who haven't read the books, stop reading here.
This isn't going to work. There will not be a significant number of people who purchase this Mozilla phone. Mozilla phone will have less sales than Zune.
Firefox cant even get the Browser right anymore. They dont listen to its end users, Dont fix the real issues, and only fix the ones that make the system work without crashing. Look at the mobile browser,The "top Sites", you cant delete them, they are always there, ( some you can remove others you have to completely reset the browser to get them gone. Millions of users have complained about this, firefox has released several updates, none of them fix the issue. So if they cant get that right why do they seem to think they can get the whole OS right? The main reason for Firefox when it began was out to HELP the end user, and not exploit them. The company got purchased ( back in the day) and now the owners have gold fever, which clouds their judgement on whats real to its users. Firefox thinks just like the rest of the internet companies out there, they think they are in charge of ththe internet. When thats not the case. Its the peoples choice that makes and controls the internet, Not the companies that actually make it run. FireFox can and will follow the path of self distruction if they dont get back to their roots.
Google is evil, Apple is rotten, Firefox answers the call.
That is it.
Greekgeek :-)
How will Firefox OS live within the mobile patent wars? It may attract some vendors if patent free, since it lower the cost. But if that brings success, it will get patent suits.
I think it comes installed, as required by the US carriers even with Firefox OS.
NSA is recording 1 billion cell phone calls a day. Most of those will be American.
Dunno, why not wait and see ..
And instead of welcoming it, people slag off on it.
It is a platform which is incredibly easy to adopt and make applications for, and it is not owned and steered by some company with a profit agenda and a mandate of openness. People still slag off on it sight unseen.
The organisation steering the project are not a bunch of scrubs and have some serious experience... And yet people slag off on it.
It is very well designed, and people still slag off on it despite having no idea of the design benefits. It understands that mobile internet is sketchy and takes counter-measures to offer an effective off-line mode and still people slag off on it. It doesn't rely on freakin Java, Objective-C, C# or the Eclipse/XCode/Visual Studio IDEs and they still slag off on it.
It has CalDAV support out of the box - and likely CardDAV soon enough. The interface is beautiful and functional. It is unlikely to have NSA backdoors... And yet people slag off on it.
It is aimed at being affordable rather than outrageously expensive like every other popular platform, and yet people slag off on it.
Although yes, most of the hardware it is coming out is underpowered with 256MB of RAM. It can run on higher powered hardware but that's not their focus at launch. I however will reserve judgement because I know my old Windows Phone 7 device with half the resources of my new Android device runs twice as fast. It won't be fast but it may not be terrible. Fucking wait a few months if you want your average $600+ powerhouse and STFU.
For once somebody decides to leverage low-income markets and instead of being positive about the opportunities and applauding the smart approach to bootstrapping a new OS, people whine about how bad Firefox apparently is even though they haven't used it in years and the true culprit of their problems were the piles of shoddy plugins and the crappy Windows XP system they were using.
As is apparent, people would rather talk out their ass rather than be constructive.
Provided they're free (with contract) phones, they'll be snapped up fairly quickly.
Android's outselling iPhones due to this - the top selling Android (SGS3) is barely 10% of phones sold since it was released. The vast majority of Android phones are free ones kicked out because people were upgrading. If Mozilla can produce a decent phone with decent specs that still goes for free with contract, it'll appeal to lots of people.
And yes, people buy Androids because upgrading their featurephones can cost just as much money for a new featurephone. But taking advantage of the "3 free Androids" deal that crops up constantly...