Computex 2013: More Firefox OS

­­Computex 2013: Meet the OS Google and Apple should worry about

Microsoft and Blackberry are desperate to cement themselves as the No. 3 mobile software maker. Don't look now, but here comes Firefox.

Announced and previewed at MWC in Barcelona earlier this year, Firefox OS is a lightweight, inexpensive operating system for phones being developed by the Mozilla Foundation, the group that makes the popular Firefox web browser. Why is Firefox going in this direction? After all, Apple and Google combined control over 90% of the mobile OS market. Attempts by Microsoft (and Blackberry to cement third place - with market share in the low single digits - have proved expensive and not-so-successful. Firefox OS isn't going after the top of the market -- at least not yet. Introduced earlier this year, the operating system is initially aimed at low-cost handsets in developing markets.

Firefox OS is based on Linux and is open source. It is designed to allow web-like HTML apps to directly control a device's hardware using JavaScript and so-called web API's. Mozilla's interest is in establishing or cementing web technologies, as opposed to some of the closed approaches of other big players. So far, initial Firefox phones have been low-frills affairs. But Taiwanese giant Foxconn -- the world's largest manufacturer of electronic devices -- is going to put some weight behind Firefox OS.

[reproduced from CNET]
Foxconn taking Firefox OS to tablets, not just phones
[by Stephen Shankland 06.03.13]

Computex, Taipei. The Chinese electronics manufacturer plans multiple devices, including tablets and phones, as part of a strategy to supply software and services along with hardware.

Foxconn and Mozilla announced a partnership Monday under which the Chinese electronics manufacturer will build not just Firefox phones, as others have announced, but tablets, too.

The rumored partnership was confirmed as Mozilla and Foxconn announced their tie-up at the Computex show in Taiwan. By including software in its devices, Foxconn gets to sell a more complete and therefore potentially valuable product to those companies that actually will attach their brands to the hardware.

"We believe that the integration of software and hardware development will offer greater benefits to our customers and consumers," said Young Liu, the general manager of Foxconn's Innovation Digital System Business Group, in a statement. "Firefox OS from Mozilla is based on HTML5 and open web technologies. The whole idea perfectly matches to the strategies promoted by Foxconn."

At a press conference, Foxconn showed off a Firefox tablet, a departure from other manufacturers who've just announced Firefox OS smartphones. The company plans to build at least five Firefox OS devices and will make more than just phones and tablets, according to The Next Web. It doesn't plan to build its own branded products, though, the company said at the conference.

Mozilla stands to benefit, too, by getting a major ally in its effort to spread Firefox OS and thereby to advance its work to bring open-Web values to the mobile market.

The browser-based operating system isn't yet properly on the market, though a small Spanish company called Geeksphone is selling Firefox OS phones for developers and Firefox OS phones should reach cost-conscious consumers in Brazil and other developing markets soon.

Mozilla announced a notable list of carriers interested in Firefox OS. The hardware partner list is gradually expanding, too: previously announced partners include ZTE, Huawei, Alcatel, LG Electronics, and Sony Mobile.

Firefox OS runs Web apps on a browser foundation, meaning that Mozilla isn't starting from scratch when it comes to building an app ecosystem. It's not clear, though, how well Firefox OS will compete with well established operating systems, particularly Android, which is spreading into lower-cost smartphones.

A range of Firefox OS phones is now joined by a tablet at the Computex 2013 show. Foxconn said it plans to build Firefox OS tablets as well as other devices.