Mozilla and its partners have launched the first phones to run Firefox OS, but it seems the company is already beginning to shift focus to tablets. The organisation’s Chief Technology Officer, Brendan Eich, yesterday said at a news conference in San Francisco that the first tablets to run Firefox OS are coming soon, but declined to say exactly when we could expect them.
Eich said Mozilla originally intended to develop Firefox OS for a tablet, but changed focus to smartphones owing to community interest and feedback. He said the majority of developers expressed interest in a smartphone, and Android as a “relatively open system for developers to develop on” helped the push for a smartphone operating system.
To come to tablets soon
Eich also revealed that Mozilla was working with Foxconn for the tablet. He said they were interested in seeing how things scale up with a tablet and opined that the Web scales better than any graphical system because of technologies like CSS. He cited the prototype Firefox OS tablet that was shown off by Mozilla’s Taiwan branch as an example of the fact.
It comes as no surprise that Mozilla is looking to invade the tablet market with its browser-based operating system after successfully launching its first phones. The organisation has stated that it has the support of 18 mobile network operators and four equipment manufacturers for its operating system—expanding the portfolio to offer products of varying screen sizes only makes sense when you have a solid backing. In a tablet market that’s saturated by Android and iOS, the HTML5-friendly Firefox OS has the potential to bring something new to consumers.
Eich said Mozilla originally intended to develop Firefox OS for a tablet, but changed focus to smartphones owing to community interest and feedback. He said the majority of developers expressed interest in a smartphone, and Android as a “relatively open system for developers to develop on” helped the push for a smartphone operating system.
To come to tablets soon
Eich also revealed that Mozilla was working with Foxconn for the tablet. He said they were interested in seeing how things scale up with a tablet and opined that the Web scales better than any graphical system because of technologies like CSS. He cited the prototype Firefox OS tablet that was shown off by Mozilla’s Taiwan branch as an example of the fact.
It comes as no surprise that Mozilla is looking to invade the tablet market with its browser-based operating system after successfully launching its first phones. The organisation has stated that it has the support of 18 mobile network operators and four equipment manufacturers for its operating system—expanding the portfolio to offer products of varying screen sizes only makes sense when you have a solid backing. In a tablet market that’s saturated by Android and iOS, the HTML5-friendly Firefox OS has the potential to bring something new to consumers.
