"This week we are announcing our new Firefox OS developer preview phones because we believe that developers will help bring the power of the web to mobile. These developer phones are being developed by Geeksphone in partnership with Telefonica and Geeksphone." Loving the orange.
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Member since:2005-10-28
Member since:2005-06-29
I'm excited about it, as well as Ubuntu Phone OS. I plan on installing B2G/Firefox OS on my Nexus S once I upgrade this summer.
Android wasn't successful the first year it was publicly available, and look at it now. Granted, Google is bigger than Mozilla and Canonical, but you can't say for sure where a technology will go until it's been in the open for a while.
Member since:2009-10-23
Plus, Google don't necessarily have any motive to stamp on Mozilla for this. Their aim is to drive people to their online services, which is almost as likely to happen to users of Firefox OS as users of Android.
Member since:2005-11-29
Is too early to tell. There are a few interesting things to note.
Negative:
1) The mobile market is notoriously difficult to break into, especially now that all the "easy" avenues to gain marketshare have been taken advantage of by Apple and Android.
2) It is unclear if Firefox has the developer outreach muscle to bootstrap the OS.
3) Aiming for emerging markets doesn't immediately imply success. What medium to long term strategy does Mozilla have? I'd be interested in their long term roadmap.
4) Can they get more OEMs on board? Do OEMs see a need for this vs Android or low end Windows Phones?
Positive:
1) Firefox is competing in a segment of the mobile market that isn't as entrenched, and lends itself nicely to new comers. Most of the up and coming OSes without deep financial pockets are targeting this because its the next frontier in the mobile OS wars.
2) With Firefox's use of HTML5, there is a lower barrier to entry. Has this ever translated into success beyond on paper? Has there been one HTML based App platform which showed any sort of tangible benefits? I'm skeptical, but optimistic here.
3) Nokia broke into emerging markets in a big way again with their Asha Series40 line, especially their Asha Touch range (blurs line between feature and smart phone). Based on Mozilla's initial hardware, this could be an Asha competitor. If anything, it proves the idea has legs.
I don't think Firefox OS will be successful overnight. If they're lucky, we'll see shoots of growth a few quarters to a year from now. I expect this to be something they gradually work away at, and there is a lot of room for Mozilla, or anyone else to slip up.
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
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"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Member since:
2006-07-01
...as ubuntu's phone os.
i.e. not successful.