Demos of the mobile version of Firefox have been online for a while, but until now it seemed it would take an age to make it to handsets. Now we hear we could be using it as early as next year.
According to the guys at The Register, Mozilla Foundation Chairperson Mitchell Baker has outlined some proposed goals for 2010, which include the company having “an effective product in the mobile market” and demonstrating that “mobile is part of one, unified, open web.”
Sure, that suggests the browser will have been released by the end of the decade, but for Baker to suggest Firefox’s first mobile version could be released and become an “effective product” in the same year is a little far fetched. It’s more likely to be released next year, ready for it to have bedded in and attracted a user base by the time 2010 rolls around.
There’s also the question of which platforms Firefox Mobile will be released on. Considering Apple will almost certainly fight against its presence on the iPhone, to protect its own Safari browser, that leaves Windows Mobile (where Microsoft will fight to keep Internet Explorer as the dominant browser), Android (where Google has already hinted it’ll launch Chrome), and the Symbian OS.
We’ve got our fingers firmly crossed for a proper mobile version of Firefox next year. But what do you think? Can it compete with existing mobile browsers? Give us a shout in the comments section below.
TBC | £TBC | Firefox (via The Register)
