Mozilla Firefox OS smartphones could be launched in Japan

Florin  By on 21 Jan 13

Last year, when Mozilla announced Firefox OS, it said that smartphones based on it would be targeted mainly at emerging markets (including South America). So it’s a bit surprising for us to hear they could be released in Japan, too.

Speaking at an HTML 5 event, the president of au KDDI (Japan’s second largest mobile carrier) said they are considering launching Firefox OS handsets later this year, sadly without providing further details. As you may already know, Mozilla’s mobile platform is completely based on HTML 5.

The first companies to manufacture Firefox OS smartphones are ZTE and TLC (maker of Alcatel handsets). So both could sell their smartphones via KDDI.

Among the carriers that are officially endorsing Firefox OS we must mention Sprint, T-Mobile, Telefonica, Telenor, Telecom Italia, and Etisalat. All these should start offering devices based on the new mobile platform pretty soon.

Earlier this month, at CES 2013, Mozila demoed Firefox OS on a ZTE-made phone. Check out the video below, courtesy of LA Times.

At the moment, there are no details on the hardware specifications the first Firefox OS handsets will have. In any case, Mozilla says its mobile platform can “run much faster [than other OSes] on older phones, and low-specs phones”.

It remains to be seen if Firefox OS can make any impact on the smartphone market – which is flooded by low-cost Android devices (and lately we even have affordable Windows Phone handsets).

Via Cnet Japan

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  • http://www.teqno-logical.com/ Teqno-Logical

    Strange, but this is the first time I’m hearing about this Firefox OS. I wonder if it’s a good one.

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