Firefox OS began life in mid-2012 as the commercial name for Boot to Gecko, and at the same time, Mozilla detailed its goal of becoming part of the entry-level smartphone market. Three and a half years later, though, Mozilla is extinguishing Firefox OS.
Mozilla said at its Mozlando developer event that it will stop developing and selling Firefox OS devices. Ari Jaaksi, Mozilla’s SVP of Connected Devices, confirmed the news to TechCrunch, saying, “Firefox OS proved the flexibility of the web, scaling from low-end smartphones all the way up to HDTVs. However, we weren’t able to offer the best user experience possible and so we will stop offering Firefox OS smartphones through carrier channels.”
Firefox OS hardware routinely cost less than $100, and at one time, Mozilla said that it would launch a $25 Firefox OS phone. However, the web-based platform never really seemed to gain much traction. Android and Windows phones are now dominating the entry-level, and both of those platforms are better established than Firefox OS. Now it looks like they’ll have one less competitor for the entry-level smartphone market.
