After arriving in Europe and Latin America first, the ZTE Open - Firefox OS's first handset - will be coming to the U.S. and the U.K. With a release date set for "soon," no one knows when Firefox is showing up on U.S. shores. But we do know where: eBay.
In another unorthodox move by the upstart Firefox OS group, the ZTE Open will be on sale soon in the U.S. and U.K. on eBay. The ZTE Open will first come in Firefox's signature orange and will be priced at an incredibly low $80 for the unlocked device. ZTE's release said the phone will work on "all mobile networks."
Firefox OS and its partners is attempting to cut into an incredibly competitive mobile operating system market, which currently is dominated by Google's Android and Apple's iOS, with the Windows Phone operating system brining up a distant third place. In order to break into the mobile OS market, Mozilla - the nonprofit company that created the Firefox browser and now the mobile operating system - is waging a bit of a guerilla launch campaign.
The launch, like the operating system, itself, is meant to be more global and open than Apple or Google's products. Firefox OS is based entirely on open-source web standards and Linux - the antithesis of iOS's cultivated and controlled ecosystem - which Mozilla hopes will help get developers and wireless operators onboard with no constraints. The operating system offers smartphone applications like news apps (TIME, CNNMoney, Huffington Post), Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, eBay, and AOL, along with standard functions and features like email, calling, messaging, and a camera.
However, the operating system also relies heavily on search to respond to users' need for content without having to buy or download apps. The launch of Firefox OS, and its availability, has similarly tried to be free of constraints - especially the cost and limited availability (on a global scale) that is usually associated with most smartphones and their operating systems.
And so Firefox OS is attempting to be available in more diverse (and unsaturated) markets throughout the world. It first launched first in Spain, followed by two South American countries with the help of its partner, Telefonica, as LatinosPost previously reported. On its August 1 release date in South America, Firefox OS came on two low-cost devices - the Alcatel OneTouch Fire and the ZTE Open - to Venezuela and Columbia.
Now, putting the Firefox OS-enabled ZTE Open on sale on eBay (at a rock-bottom price), Mozilla and its partners are hoping to continue rolling out to low to mid-range smartphone markets around the world. ""It is great honor to launch the ZTE Open Firefox OS phone worldwide through eBay," said ZTE Corp. Vice President Dai Wenhong. "ZTE is devoted to providing more options for customers globally and enabling them to live better lives via advanced technology. The ZTE Open offers customers a smartphone experience at an incredible price point, making it ideal for cost conscious consumers or those looking to upgrade to a smartphone for the first time."
The ZTE Open has a 3.5-inch display and a Cortex A5 processor clocked at 1GHz, assisted by 256MB of RAM. It only has 512MB of storage, but a lot of content and apps that would be stored on phones with other operating systems are meant to be web-enabled on Firefox OS. The device has WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and other standard smartphone features like an accelerometer and a 3.2-megapixel camera.
Check back with Latinos Post Tech for more updates on the availability of Firefox OS devices, including when the ZTE Open officially hits the virtual shelves of eBay.