Sure, the iPhone and Galaxy S smartphones are the stars of the mobile world and almost every smartphone wishes it could enjoy the same level of high-end fame. Mozilla, the company better known for its Firefox browser, however, is looking to make a statement with its new Firefox OS smartphone that web developer support is more important than bells and whistles.
Mozilla announced the developer preview versions of its Firefox OS smartphones today in a posting on its website. The phones will start rolling out to interested developers in February.
"This week we are announcing our new Firefox OS developer preview phones because we believe that developers will help bring the power of the web to mobile," wrote Mozilla's Stormy Peters.
"These developer phones are being developed by Geeksphone in partnership with Telefonica and Geeksphone."
The announcement goes on to give three main reasons developing apps for the Firefox OS, which is built on open web standards, is advantageous:
1) Keep the web open. Support the open web and help make sure the power of the web is available to everyone - even on mobile devices.
2) Simplicity. Develop on a single technology stack (HTML5/CSS/JavaScript/new WebAPIs) and deliver across the web and devices.
3) Freedom. You're not locked in to a vendor-controlled ecosystem. You can distribute your app through the Firefox Marketplace, your own website, or any other store based on Mozilla's open app store technology.
Mozilla is known for its open-source, web-based mentality, and the Firefox smartphone is no different. Rather than aiming for 1080p, or double-digit-megapixel cameras, Mozilla has chosen to embrace a rather low-end approach.
The Firefox developer preview smartphone will come with 3.5-inch HVGA Multitouch display, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 CPU, 512MB RAM, and a 3-megapixel camera. Sound rather unexciting? Well that's because on paper, it is.
This Firefox OS phone can barely be considered a cheap Android smartphone here in the United States, but it's important to bear in mind that it is not meant as an iPhone competitor. Rather, it will be geared towards markets, such as Brazil's, where low-end phones with plenty of customization and developer input will make it appealing.
What do you think of the Firefox OS smartphone? Would you pick one up? Or is developer support not enough to draw you away from all the other eye candy on the market?