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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."
Does the NSA app come pre-installed, or do I have to download it?
I can't follow why this is a good idea for them.
I like mozilla too! I just haven't liked any of their products or visible personnel for years!
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
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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.
${DIETY} - Use of an undefined higher being found at line 0. Did you forget to feed it?
Does it spy on you less than Google's offering?
Is it more affordable and generally compatible than Apple's offering?
If so, then the world does, in fact, need it.
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.
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...
I think they'll become likable again when all their google-money dries up, and the corporate types start bailing, and it becomes a hobby maintained technology again.
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.
So, removing yourself from modern society I take it?
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.
The average person may not even bother with owning a traditional computer in the future, just a phone and maybe a tablet. Mozilla will get locked out of that space if they don't compete. Releasing a browsers for the other mobile platforms doesn't really cut it because it is not a level playing field. On iOS you can't even make your own browser that performs as well as the native one unless you just want to reskin Safari.
If they don't capture a chunk of the mobile space they will die.
My Hello World is 512 bytes. But it's also a valid Fat12 boot sector, Fat12 file reader, and Pmode routine.
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.
The average person may not even bother with owning a traditional computer in the future, just a phone and maybe a tablet. Mozilla will get locked out of that space if they don't compete.
So what? They can and should do one thing, do it really well, and maybe add related products. Going from a web browser to an email client is somewhat reasonable - most of what they do is handle network traffic, filter, and render the results. Going from a web browser to an OS makes no sense whatsoever.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
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
Yeah; monopolies are the best! Who wants any of that stinking choice and competition?
Currently, mobiles are pretty much a two horse race- Android and iOS. There is no credible third player- Windows and Blackberry are both down to the margins. Personally, I'd love to see that two horse race become a three or four horse race. And for vague philosophical reasons, I'd rather that those extra two horses weren't either Windows or Blackberry.
Personally I'm hoping that Sailfish or Ubuntu will do well. But hey, nothing wrong with Mozilla. If they can pull off a decent OS, then more power to them- I'd buy it, if it were any good.
Have a good long piss before you go to bed. You'll be sleeping for quite some time. Security and functionality are about trade-offs. Even walled garden systems are relatively insecure, and being able to install anything from anywhere is an incredible risk.
What was the kid doing to fill a stock Nexus with malware? The computing equivalent of indiscriminate sex with Belize prostitutes? What you're looking for is hello.c
It doesn't do much, but it's at least as secure as the compiler and the system in which it's run.
-- Using the preview button since 2005
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.
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)
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.
What do you think a browser and an OS do, exactly?
A web browser needs to do render text, various high-performance graphics stuff, show some widgets that a user can interact with, provide a programmable runtime that can be used to create things like gmail or the github UI out of those widgets, do various network access, handle prioritizing things like web workers, painting, layout, and so forth. Oh, and nowadays also audio processing, real-time audio and video communications (WebRTC) and a few other things along those lines.
The non-kernel part of an OS needs to have libraries for high-performance graphics, show some widgets a user can interact with, a modern one will typically provide a programmable runtime for creating UI backed by some logic out of those widgets (C#, Objective C, Dalvik, etc). Pretty similar to a browser, actually.
Oh, and an OS needs to mediate hardware access, which is done by the kernel. Oddly enough, Mozilla is not creating a kernel from scratch; they're using the Android neé Linux kernel in FirefoxOS. Maybe because they figured this was not something they were experts in and maybe using an existing reasonably good solution would be better than trying to create a new thing.
Which is why it was possible to create FirefoxOS by taking a browser and adding a few APIs for touching hardware that the kernel exposes (things like cameras, FM radio, cell radio, etc). Plus a bunch of optimizations to the browser core that are needed no matter what to have a competitive browser.