Firefox OS smartphones

As Apple Inc prepared to roll out 4 million pre-sold iPhone 6 mobiles to cashed up consumers willing to pay a massive premium for their product; Mozilla Corp, the non-profit foundation behind Firefox is launching an open source operating system for smartphones targeting a totally different market segment.

I must admit, I am a fan of the Google Chrome web browser as my account is linked where I can access my personal account on any computer. I really like the Android open source system used on most non-Apple smartphones and tablets.

I use the Mozilla Firefox browser at work and reckon it is really a pretty good and intuitive operating system. Following on from Google's lead, rival tech company Firefox has also developed open source software to power mobile phones.

When I inspect the analytics of this particular site, I note with interest approximately 65% of internet traffic is Google Chrome, 20% is Firefox, 6% Internet Explorer, 4% is OS;FBSV 3% Safari and 2% Opera, Mobile Safari, CriOS and other systems.

Now this is open to change daily and only an indication although trends have emerged over the year this blog has been running. Based on this information, one might assume the rising popularity of Firefox is eclipsing Microsoft's Internet Explorer as browser of choice. 

I am also guessing the dominance of the Google Android operating system for smartphones accounts for the 65% majority. One expects this to last for the next decade or so, we really can't project any further forward than that.    

Searching the net, a 16GB iPhone is listed for sale at $869 (non-plan) and a whopping $1249 for a 128GB non-plan smartphone on the Apple Store website. The low-cost Firefox powered smartphone seems to be receiving mixed reviews currently, the phone is fairly simple to use by all accounts.   

Two Firefox powered smartphones have been released in India, the Intex Cloud FX and single-core processor Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 are 2G and not 3G enabled phones. The INR 2299 ($43 AUD) Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 is very competitively priced with further roll-outs in regions planned for the future.

What I am guessing is the take-up of cheaper smartphones in developing markets will lead to pressure on margins of the established players in developed markets as Firefox powered handsets improve.