Mozilla announced at the Mobile World Conference that the company is teaming up with Verizon and several other carriers around the world to bring smartphones powered by the Firefox OS to wealthy countries, where Mozilla's browser-based mobile OS is almost unknown.
In addition to Verizon, other partners that Mozilla were able to convince include KDDi of Japan, LG U+ of South Korea and Telefonica of Spain.
The first smartphones that will be running Firefox OS will be launched through these carriers by 2016.
The significance of the new partnerships with carriers is that Mozilla is moving into selling the Firefox OS into markets wherein the penetration of smartphones is high. Mozilla previously only released the Firefox OS in developing countries, where smartphone penetration is low and where the low-end hardware needs of the operating system means devices with lower prices.
Upon the announcement of Firefox OS in 2013, Mozilla said that Sprint was a partner as it planned to enter the United States with the operating system, but the company backed out from that plan within months.
Now, Mozilla looks all set to introduce Firefox OS to United States and other wealthy and developed countries. The company hopes that such a move would attract more programmers to support the operating system, which would in turn help the company's mission of breaking down the barriers that trap users within iOS and Android ecosystems.
According to Andreas Gal, the CTO of Mozilla, many Firefox OS devices that will stem from the newly created partnerships with carriers will use earlier smartphone designs, including those that slide open or flip open, and those with hardware keyboards.
"The operators see customer demand for these form factors. With Firefox OS we have the ability to actually serve that market," said Gal. "You'll see us broadening the categories we're bringing Firefox OS to."
The Firefox OS-enabled smartphones entering wealthy countries will not be positioned to challenge iOS and Android smartphones. Instead, the devices will be mainly for entry-level users that are upgrading into smartphones for their modern features, as Mozilla sees less competition in the entry-level segment with the increasing specs and prices of Android devices.
The partnerships increase the availability of Firefox OS smartphones to 30 countries under 15 carriers. The company's deal with Orange will increase the number of countries to 43.
According to Mozilla, around 3 million users visit the company's app store, named the Firefox Marketplace, per month, with millions of apps being downloaded.
