I’ve tried my best to be optimistic about the Firefox mobile operating system. Linux-based, open source, and from a group I respect. Mozilla, the parent company, has been making the rounds at Mobile World Congress to promote the fledgling OS. ZTE has announced the Open, the first Firefox OS phone, and it’s a good-looking bit of tech. However, if you live in the U.S., don’t expect to go hands on any time soon.
Mozilla won’t release Firefox OS in the United States until 2014. That means Android and iOS will continue to dominate, while Microsoft and Blackberry each vie for the number three position. There already exists an open source outside of those other options in the form of Ubuntu OS.
Added Ubuntu bonus: Can run on phones you can get free on contract.
That’s a crowded market for a player that will simply not have the marketing dollars other companies will. I don’t doubt that Mozilla will make a cool OS or that ZTE and other hardware partners (like Sony) will go all out to make great hardware. What I doubt is that anyone will pick that hardware up other than hardcore geeks, and we hate being made to wait.
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