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ZTE to Launch Mozilla Based Smartphone by End of the Year
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China's ZTE has confirmed that it is working on a smartphone that will be based on the Mozilla operating system. Mozilla is the company that developed the open-source Firefox web browser.
ZTE Executive Vice President He Shiyou told journalists that the Mozilla based smartphone will be launched before the end of this year.
The company currently offers predominantly Android based handsets, with a small number of Microsoft based models, but says that it doesn't want to become dependent on one main software supplier.
Mobile networks are also known to be wary of the Apple/Android duopoly and are looking for at least one other major OS to compete, and the Nokia/Windows alliance hasn't really excited customers yet.
ZTE is also concerned about the ongoing Andoid patent war and sees a way around that by switching to the Mozilla platform. Although Mozilla may not be any less exposed to patent problems, its lower profile at the moment any distract Apple and others from launching lawsuits in against it. In the short term at least.
The most difficult task for the Mozilla team though wont be getting the software into handsets, but building up the mobile app market to encourage customers to buy the phones.
Nokia had an app market long before Apple did, but it was the efforts that Apple put into its platform that are credited with helping the company secure the sales growth that it achieved with its iPhone range.
Firefox recently released a video showing a prototype of its OS running on a ZTE handset.
Tags: [mozilla] [firefox] [zte]
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