Mozilla unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the future trends of Firefox OS development. Foundation showed new commercial devices with Firefox OS, and announced the plans of partners, which will allow further development of the platform.
Reporters saw a dual-core reference mobile with a 4.5-inch screen, on which developers can test new features and applications on Firefox OS for different memory configurations. In addition, the foundation has expanded the program for tablets, making it easier for developers to test their applications for tablets with Firefox OS.
New Firefox OS PhoneGap integration was also announced, allowing hundreds of thousands of PhoneGap developers to port their existing apps to Firefox OS in a matter of hours, while new WebAPIs will continue to narrow the gap between native and Web apps. At Mobile World Congress, Mozilla also launched developer tools that will allow OEMs and operators to easily customise Firefox OS for a variety of customer segments.
Vision Mobile recently published a report showing that developer interest for Firefox OS continues to grow, capturing 7% of developer mindshare in just six months. The report also highlighted that during Q1 2014, 52% of developers were already using HTML5 for mobile websites or Web apps with an additional 16% indicating their intention to join them.
A recent survey by Strategy Analytics found that the number of mobile app developers building for Firefox OS is expected to triple this year, showing the biggest rise in developer interest of any mobile platform. This industry momentum is fuelled by the fact that there are already millions of Web developers programming in HTML5 who are eager to target mobile without having to learn a new programming language, or pay engineers to target specific mobile platforms.
At Mobile World Congress, Mozilla is showcasing its new developer reference phone, the Firefox OS Flame, enabling developers to test the capabilities of Firefox OS in a real environment with a mobile network and true hardware characteristics like the accelerometer, NFC and camera.
Source: GSMchoice.com
23.03.2026
