It's been almost exactly one year since Mozilla's Boot To Gecko project became Firefox OS, and since then we've seen several companies come out in support of the platform and we've even gotten a peek at the first devices that'll run Firefox OS. Now it's almost time for consumers to get their first taste of Mozilla's mobile operating system, as Mozilla announced this morning that the first Firefox OS products will soon be hitting store shelves.
Mozilla says that Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica will soon launch the first two Firefox OS smartphones, the Alcatel One Touch Fire and ZTE Open, the latter of which is shown above. Telefónica went one step further, revealing that it will unleash the ZTE Open in Spain on July 2 at a price of €69 ($90 USD). Buyers will be getting a device that sports a 3.5-inch HVGA display, single-core Qualcomm MSM7225A processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, 4GB microSD card and a €30 ($39 USD) balance for prepaid customers. Telefónica says that it plans to launch "a number of Firefox OS devices" throughout 2013.
Mozilla has said that its goal with Firefox OS hardware is to offer "a more attainable smartphone experience." That means that we'll likely see Firefox OS powering several entry-level devices that may not be appealing to the bleeding edge power user, but will give consumers seeking an affordable device the opportunity to get their hands on a shiny new smartphone. Firefox OS hardware is slated to arrive in several different parts of the globe, including Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. Sprint has given its support to Firefox OS as well, but Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs has said that we may not see Firefox OS products in the U.S. until sometime in 2014.
Via Mozilla, Telefónica
