Cell phones to get Foxy

Mozilla to take popular Internet browser mobile
By Matthew Lysiak

Special to amNew York

October 19, 2007

It is official: Mozilla's popular Firefox browser will be coming to mobile phones in 2008.

Mozilla's transition into the mobile market has been the subject of much speculation in recent years, but after citing an increase in consumer demand and the success of the iPhone, the tech titan has decided that now is the time to finally expand into the mobile-Web market.

"People ask us all the time about what Mozilla's going to do about the mobile Web, and I'm very excited to announce that we plan to rock it," Mike Schoepfer, vice president of engineering at Mozilla Corp. wrote in his blog. "The user demand for a full browsing experience on mobile devices is clear. If you weren't sure about this before, you should be after the launch of the iPhone."

A company rep wouldn't give an exact date for release, but did confirm it would be in 2008.

The move means Mozilla will add mobile devices to the next platform set for Mozilla2, the next-generation browser technology also due next year. Schoepfer wants to make clear to the mobile market that it has his attention.

"We will make core platform decisions with mobile devices as first-class citizens," Schoepfer wrote. "We will ship a version of Mobile Firefox which can, among other things, run Firefox extensions on mobile devices and allow others to build rich applications."

An industry expert predicts the move will make a big splash with consumers. "The main competitors, Opera and Internet Explorer, have a reputation for being more problem-prone and Firefox is already very popular with consumers," said Sarah Anderson, editor of Laptop magazine. "Mozilla has gained a lot of ground and consumers are going to be real happy about this move to mobile."

Mozilla has yet to determine what their target platforms will be, but says it would distinguish itself from the iPhone, where Safari has exclusive rights to its browser, by being an open source product that is not proprietary for any hardware device.

The announcement comes after the release earlier this year of a new version of Minimo, a Mozilla-based mobile browser for Windows Mobile devices.

Anderson said that any way you shake it, there is no downside to the news. "Simply put, this is a good thing that will benefit everyone looking to become part of the growing mobile information market," added Anderson.