Mozilla’s Firefox OS Gets First Update As It Heads For 2nd Phase Of Market Launches

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Mozilla’s Firefox OS Gets First Update As It Heads For 2nd Phase Of Market Launches

NATASHA LOMA
09 October 2013

Mozilla’s HTML5-based open mobile platform Firefox OS, which bagged support from a raft of carriers at the start of this year as a low cost alternative to Android-based smartphones, is gearing up to launch in more markets.

New device hardware running FFOS is also incoming, Mozilla said today in a blog – although it’s not naming the forthcoming markets and devices at this point, noting only that new phones will run the latest version of the OS, FFOS (1.1), also announced today.

“Individual partners will announce specifics about upcoming launches in each market,” it added.

New features in the v1.1 update to FFOS include: performance improvements, such as better app load times and smoother scrolling; support for new languages (now more than 15 languages); support for MMS; a push notifications API; and more. “This Firefox OS update will be available for current users and on developer phones soon,” said Mozilla.

The first FFOS phone, the ZTE Open, debuted in Spain back in July — costing $90 on Telefónica’s network. Poland was next, with Deutsche Telekom ranging the Alcatel One Touch Fire. Mozilla and its carrier partners also added Columbia and Venezuela (Telefónica), and the U.S. and U.K. to FFOS’ market footprint in August – the latter two markets being something of a soft launch, with Mozilla offering the ZTE Open exclusively on eBay (unlocked, so sans carrier partner).

Mozilla is billing the looming “second round” of market launches as evidence of momentum for its fledgling OS — an OS that it’s fashioned as an Android alternative carriers’ pet (FFOS’ openness provides telcos with a platform they can mould how they please, cladding it in carrier colours or larding it with their own content). But claims of “momentum” and “positive market reception” are not backed up by any sales data disclosures yet.

FFOS’ carrier backers, who are absolutely in this project with Mozilla — having thrown their weight behind FFOS to try to build something that can draw oxygen away from smartphone OS market leader Android and thereby wrest a degree of control back from Google — are also quoted making positive noises about Firefox OS’ reception. But again, without stumping up any hard data to back up the claims.

Telefónica, which is lining up additional FFOS launches in Brazil and three other Latin America markets during Q4 2013, said in a supporting statement that its first three FFOS launches have shown “a strong consumer appetite for a great value and open smartphone offer”. Deutsche Telekom added that its Poland FFOS debut had been “very successful”.

It remains to be seen whether all these positive noises will translate into notable marketshare gains.

In the mean time, carriers are continuing to try. Other (named) markets where carriers have committed to carrying FFOS soon include Germany, Greece and Hungary (Deutsche Telekom), and Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro (Telenor) before the end of the year. Expect more markets to be added, as Mozilla & co give FFOS another shove soon.

 

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Firefox OS gets performance boost, wider distribution

Phones running Firefox OS will soon also be available in Germany, Brazil and other countries

Mikael Ricknäs (IDG News Service) 09 October, 2013 11:04

Running Firefox OS on the ZTE Open handset

Mozilla Foundation is improving the performance of its Firefox OS software for smartphones, and devices running it will soon go on sale in more European and Latin American countries.

Firefox OS is built around applications written in HTML5. Mozilla Foundation is pitching it as a better option for low-end smartphones, and devices running it will compete head-to-head with cheap Android smartphones and other platforms such as Nokia's Asha.

However, the operating system has yet to live up to that promise, with the first round of phones suffering from performance issues. "And boy, is the device slow, even for simple tasks like opening emails. Don't expect to finish every action; trying again is part of the experience," Infoworld said when reviewing the ZTE Open in August.

Mozilla Foundation, which leads the development, is looking to address that with version 1.1 of Firefox OS. The organization promises "faster application load times and smoother scrolling," it said in a blog post on Wednesday. The upgrade also includes new features such as MMS messaging and enhancements to email, contact management and calendar. Existing devices will be upgraded to the new version soon.

The Firefox OS-based Open and the Alcatel One Touch Fire are also about to get a wider distribution. Telefónica will sell the devices in Brazil and three other Latin American markets this quarter, and in other countries where it operates networks next year, it said.

Deutsche Telekom will sell Firefox OS phones in Germany, Greece and Hungary, while Norwegian operator Telenor is also planning to sell the phones in Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro before the end of the year.

The Open and the Fire are already available in Spain, Colombia, Venezuela and Poland.

Last month, ZTE said that it had sold about 100,000 Open phones since the smartphone went on sale in July.

To put that number in perspective, it's only a little more than the 82,000 Windows Phone devices sold to end users each day during the second quarter, according to Gartner. Windows Phone was the third biggest-selling smartphone OS in that quarter, ahead of BlackBerry OS and behind Android and iOS. End users bought an average of 2 million Android smartphones each day from April to June.

However, both ZTE and Telefónica, which didn't want to comment on sales number, said they are happy with sales at this early stage.

 

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