Posted Monday, July 2, 2012 by Dave Thornton in Carriers

Firefox OS coming in 2013, Six Carriers in the pipeline

Mozilla made a big announcement about its long-awaited Boot to Gecko (B2G) project today, officially dubbing it ‘Firefox OS’ and revealing that the first devices running the web-based platform, two hardware and six carriers have now signed up. European carrier, Telefonica (o2 in the UK) and chipmaker Qualcomm were already partners. will be produced by Chinese manufacturers ZTE and TCL Corporation. The foundation also laid out details of new carrier partnerships with Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia and Telenor, adding to previously-announced agreements with Telefónica and Deutsche Telekom.

About the project
Launched in 2011, the Boot to Gecko project will fully enable the Web as the platform for mobile devices. At Mobile World Congress in February 2012 we announced our initial development partners, and provided a demo of a prototype.

Technology
The project’s proposed architecture eliminates the need for apps to be built on platform-specific native APIs. Using HTML5, developers everywhere can write directly to the Web; they can create amazing user experiences and apps unencumbered by the rules and restrictions of closely controlled platforms.

Open Accessible Standards
As with all Mozilla projects, the Boot to Gecko project is based entirely on open standards and the source code is open and accessible to all. Where open standards are missing (including telephony, SMS, camera, bluetooth, USB and NFC), we’re working with standards bodies and other vendors to create them.

Mozilla Chief Executive Gary Kovacs said in a statement:

“Mozilla’s OS for mobile devices will help deliver on our mission to offer advanced Web technologies that eliminate roadblocks for users and developers. It will also help Mozilla to democratize smartphone experiences to the billions of internet users expected to come online for the first time through mobile in the coming years. The large number of operators and manufacturers now supporting this effort will bring additional resources and welcome diversity to our global offerings.”

Firefox OS

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Dave Thornton

Many yrs ago Dave was MSDN trained, a web designer and computer shop owner. Loves walking his dogs, Lab & Welsh border collie. Golden Retriever. Plenty of fields around where he lives in Dundee, Scotland and is 2 miles from the beach.