The first Firefox OS phone could be unveiled in less than a month. Chinese giant ZTE plans to reveal a "major new mobile device" at trade show MWC, and has dropped a big hint that it'll be Firefox-related.
ZTE hints at what we'll see by revealing the Twitter hashtags -- keywords used by people tweeting -- for industry shindig Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February. Hashtag #ZTEGrandMemo refers to the oversized Grand Memo phone-cum-tablet, and #ZTEMozilla teases a partnership with Mozilla, the people behind Web browser Firefox.
Mozilla is also behind Firefox OS, a new operating system for mobile phones that's designed to be completely open. It's based on HTML5, the same language as the Web. So HTML5 apps will work across phones and computers, with none of the divisions imposed by Apple's walled garden for apps.
The first devices to use Firefox OS are the Keon and Peak, pictured above, but they're just test phones for app builders to develop apps. If ZTE do show off a Firefox phone at MWC, it's set to be the first you could actually buy yourself -- depending how near this is to hitting the market, of course.
The ZTE Grand Memo is a massive 5.7-inch phone to challenge the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Bigger and with more screen space than a phone, but smaller and more portable than a tablet, the Grand Memo has a 720p screen and a quad-core processor.
Are you excited about the potential for Firefox OS? Is there room in the market or are Android and iPhone just too powerful? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 3
Add your comment
anonymous 30 January, 2013 17:59
Really dont think people are going to be too intrested in a new os, market dominated by android and apple still has millions of loyal customers, as for this new os being completely open source so is android and how many apps is this firefox os going to have, i think these new os,firefox, wp8 and bb10 have all left it way too late, im not saying they aint any good because there probably all much better that iosuts just i dont think any of them can or could do anything that android already cant, but thats just my personel opinion.....
anonymous 30 January, 2013 18:41
I think that this could actually be pretty good, but for that to happen they are going to need to really keep the price of the devices at the low end and also advertise. I wouldn't buy this if 1. Their is no people backing it and 2. If they don't get competative with their prices. I bought my android based LG Optimus L3 for £45 so if i can get a does the job droid phone for that price then other phone os's are going to have to setup to the mark and face the fact that people will buy cheap if it looks good.
anonymous 31 January, 2013 12:40
It will probably be a niche product at first (definitely in the rich western countries - not so sure about latin america, and other developing world countries), but the key to Firefox OS is whether they can push the adoption of HTML 5 web apps. As a web-developer you currently have to cater to iOS and Android. Blackberry, Windows Phone and all the rest is optional, and it is very difficult for a new OS to convince app developers that it is worth the effort. However, if Mozilla can make the case that by providing a HTML5 app you can make one version that runs on all systems (or at least on all of the rest, for which you do not provide native support), than Firefox OS could be the winner.