14/10/2013

Firefox OS targets emerging markets but should "gradually move up market"

Mozilla’s mobile operating system Firefox OS is currently adapted to "feature phones" and therefore "particularly relevant to the entry level market". However, it will gradually increase in power version by version, in the hope of gaining more consumers, even those in developing countries, said Tristan Nitot, founder and president of Mozilla Europe Association, when interviewed by ZDNet.

After the recent launch of the Firefox OS smartphones (Alcatel One Touch Fire and ZTE Open) in Spain, Colombia and Venezuela with the Spanish operator Telefónica, as well as in Germany and Poland with Deutsche Telekom, Mozilla announced the arrival of Firefox OS devices in new markets. By the end of the year, Firefox OS should land in Brazil and "three other Latin American countries" with Telefónica and Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro with the Norwegian group Telenor, stated ZDNet. Before the end of the year or early 2014, the mobile operating system will be released in 14 countries.

Primary objective: emerging markets, with an increase in strength in the medium term
Despite the launch of Firefox OS devices in Germany, for the moment, the Mozilla strategy is rather to target emerging markets which are not "saturated by smartphone offers". A winning strategy, says Mozilla, who is careful regarding the communication of figures. According Tristan Nitot, the first version of Firefox OS is attractive to entry-level devices. In addition, it creates an alternative to the all-powerful Google.

However, the latest mobile operating system, Firefox OS 1.1, has features such as "push notifications, MMS support, the auto-correction or backing up files from a browser." Tristan Nitot evokes the project of "an increase in strength" of OS in "other countries". However, there is no question of double standards: the president of Mozilla Europe indicates that the goal is that the new versions are adopted by all.

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