Launching
a new mobile operating system is hard work, especially in today’s competitive
mobile minefield. Android and iOS currently hold the top mobile platform spots,
but that hasn't stopped other players from entering the race.
Consumers have more choice than ever, and pretty soon they'll be able to choose
whether or not they'd like to switch to Mozilla.
Rather
than jump into the shark tank, the non-profit foundation behind the Firefox
browser (and now Firefox OS) has set its sights on penetrating markets where
smartphones don’t currently have a stronghold in order to pick up users who are
just beginning to adopt a “smarter” mobile platform. The plan is to introduce
an affordable family of low-maintenance phones that provide the same
functionality as popular high-end smartphones.
Hitting the right markets
In
February, Mozilla announced four hardware partners that it intended to
work with to make this vision a reality: Alcatel, LG, ZTE, and Huawei. But in a
conversation with Ars, Chris Lee, the Firefox OS product manager at Mozilla,
confirmed that the number has now been bumped up to five, adding Sony to the
lineup. “We’ll go after markets we think kind of have the best fit,” said Lee.
”We think there’s a ton of opportunity.”
The
first phone to launch this summer will be the Alcatel One Touch Fire, which was
showed off at this year's Mobile World Congress. According to CNET, the handset looks a
lot like Alcatel's T'Pop, a low-end feature phone. There will be a couple
of applications for it at launch, including games like Cut the Rope and
Nokia's Maps application (which is also standard with Windows Phones). It also
has 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G capabilities, and inside there is a
1GHz Qualcomm processor and 256MB of RAM, as well as a 3.2 megapixel camera and
an expansion slot.
Mozilla's
sights are currently set on emerging markets, especially Latin American
countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. "We want to reach Web
users who are just coming online for the first time through mobile devices, a
market segment which is particularly strong in [Latin America] and we believe
that's the greatest region to initially target," Lee explained in an
e-mail. The company also plans on launching in Poland as one of its five
key markets, and it's targeting users with feature phones who are looking to
purchase their first smartphone.
“We
believe there is an opportunity and an unserved need in the market for this
segment of users,” Lee said. “We know the next billion coming online are coming
through a mobile device as the basis… Our goal isn't to compete head-to-head
with the iPhone 5 or a Galaxy S 4 in the very beginning.” Lee also noted that
the company doesn't have plans to hit the US with its Firefox OS
until 2014. “There is interest, but as the platform matures and additional
capabilities come, we know expectations in the US are different, and needs are
different than in these other markets.”
Easy to update
The
underlying Firefox OS architecture could also make it an attractive platform
for American carriers and OEMs. Firefox features three layers called Gonk,
Gecko, and Gaia, which are all part of the software stack. Gecko refers to the
“platform pieces” of the Firefox OS, which include the rendering engine; Gonk
is a bare-bones Linux kernel and drivers; and Gaia is the user interface.
Because of how they’re sequestered, Lee said it’s much easier to update the
operating system in pieces rather than as a whole.
“We’re
able to update portions of the OS where it limits the risk,” he says. With iOS
and Android, where a software update must be deployed to the entire phone, “the
risk is in the low level—touching the radio layer, touching the different
components and drivers. We don’t necessarily have to go touch these areas to
make changes. That helps partners feel more comfortable in updating more
regularly.” He added that this may be why some carriers are not updating
handsets as often as they should; if an update bricks the phone, customers will
understandably be upset. “If you can reduce risk and changes and focus on
the right areas, you can always keep people updated.”
Security and standardization
Mozilla
ensures that its future users will feel secure on the Firefox OS platform.
“There’s a balance between always keeping the user safe and having a good
experience,” explained Lee. Firefox OS includes a framework where applications
have access based on the permission model the app was built on. If it’s a
system application, then it’s considered a verified application, which means
that it has access to everything because Mozilla has already vetted it. If the
app is from the marketplace, it’s then checked over by Mozilla to ensure that
the developer isn't distributing malware, and the app is only given access
to certain APIs. If the app wants access to the camera or location services, it
asks the user for permission. “We could have 50 dialogues that keep you really
safe, but you’re like, ‘I’m not ever going to actually use the app... I never
got to the app because you asked me everything,’” Lee joked. “We try to make
that trade-off in balance.”
The
company has also submitted 32 Web APIs to
the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), most of which are still awaiting standardisation. Each of the APIs relates to a
part of Firefox OS’ hardware and software. “These are not Mozilla APIs, but Web
APIs that would work over time across any Web browser or platform,” explained
Lee.
The W3C
standardization usually takes anywhere from several months to a year per API,
and the closest to becoming a standard right now is a battery status indicator
at the top of the page, with vibration and geolocation APIs next on the list.
“The battery status API actually can be found on many phone implementations,”
Mozilla Director of Research Andreas Gal said at a 2012 talk.
The battery status can be presently seen in desktop versions of Firefox, while
the latter two are now in the Candidate Recommendation stage, which means they
require a bit more input, time, and testing from members and software
vendors—basically, they're almost a step away from the final stage of
standardization.
Lee
adds that by having new APIs and new standards proposed and improved, it’s also
a move forward for developers interested in the platforms. “Standards benefit
developers because they can ensure [that] any app they develop for the Web will
work across all browsers in the same way," he later explained in an
e-mail. "However, even if a standard is not recommended by the W3C, it can
still gain global adoption if two or more of the major browser vendors decide
to implement it." Lee cited the fact that Samsung has included the battery
status indicator API in its WebKit browser on its handsets as a prime example.
As for
Mozilla's partnership with Spain-based hardware maker Geeksphone, Lee
explains that those phones are developer preview models that potential
consumers will not see. They are intended to help app developers effectively
make applications for the platform by giving them a preview of the type of
hardware future phones will have.
The two
developer phones available are called the Keon and the Peak; both have 512MB of
RAM. The cost difference between the two phones is a little over a hundred
euros, which Lee believes is fairly affordable for someone who is just
interested in dabbling with the platform. “You get the hardware... you get the
software and updates as we make changes.” He suggested the Keon as the best
pick for developers who are interested in pushing forward an application for
the phones launching this summer.
Overall,
the mission for Mozilla’s Firefox OS is to reach as many people as the company
can, “where their privacy and their security and their
experience isn't compromised because we have some other agenda to
make money off of it.” Whether it will be successful remains to be seen;
Mozilla will have to convince people that its low-cost, mid-range smartphone
can offer all of what consumers want from the iOS and Android platforms.
[Source]
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