[fm]: Mozilla gives up on Smartphones; Firefox OS to be used in Internet of Things

Mozilla announced today that the company was finally bowing out of the smartphone space. The company will pull the plug on its Firefox OS for smartphones from May onwards, ensuring that Firefox OS 2.6 will be the last supported mobile OS which is officially supported by Firefox. However, the company is only pulling the plug on the smartphone platform; the Firefox OS will stay alive, but will be used to power Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

In the blog post, Mozilla's George Rotor conceded that Mozilla was often “playing catch-up” with more established operating systems, as well as app ecosystems. With tech giants such as Apple and Google enjoying the lion’s share of the smartphone market, pulling out appeared to be the smarter move. Hence,

Mozilla can accept defeat in one area and move on to focus its energy on other areas – namely, Connected Devices.

Mozilla will not add any new Android, tablet or desktop apps in Firefox’s Marketplace after March 29, while any apps which do not support Firefox OS will be removed from the app store. Firefox OS apps will still be accepted even until 2017, but even those apps will eventually be discontinued.

According to Mozilla, “prototyping the future” is the way to go about ensuring that Mozilla has a big say in the future of the Internet of Things platform. Much like Firefox’s offering with its browser, Mozilla aims to promote open solutions as well as security and privacy for its users.

Mozilla, meanwhile, aims to keep testing out multiple product solutions to ensure that they keep delivering measurable results from time to time. The product innovation process requires beta products to pass through certain “gates” which determine the feasibility of the product. The process is currently restricted to the company’s staff, but non-staff participation should be added by June. One of the projects to make the cut, Mozilla’s Firefox OS-enabled Smart TV, is currently being used by Panasonic.

Firefox OS will mostly be supported by the community as Mozilla focuses on products that can actually give the company an edge in the technology space. Taking on the connected devices space, however, again pits Mozilla against companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google. Apple has its HomeKit and Samsung has its SmartThings, while Google and Amazon are working on their own connected home and connected devices experience. With the tech giants already having launched a number of connected devices, Mozilla will have to play its cards right if it wants to get ahead. One has to wonder if this, like the mobile OS fight, will be a losing battle for Mozilla.

By: Saad Dada. 

Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, Flagship Records.

For The #FacebookTeam