Firefox OS fires first salvo in Europe with devices from ZTE and Alcatel

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Mozilla's Firefox OS on mobile phones is the newest entrant into the iOS and Android dominated mobile market but they're starting their initial salvo in Europe. Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica will release the first Firefox OS devices, the Alcatel One Touch Fire and the ZTE Open. The ZTE Open from Telefonica will cost €69 (inc. VAT), including €30 for prepaid customers and the option of zero interest financing for post pay customers.

Firefox OS is a fully-open source mobile OS and the handsets that ship with it are targeting the emerging markets as well as the lower-end of the spectrum. This includes the prepaid market and pay-as-you-go users who want to step up from a feature phone.

Aside from its open-source nature, Firefox OS is built on modern web technologies with a lot of the OS underpinnings based on HTML 5. While not the first mobile OS to be web or cloud-connected (original iOS web apps and webOS did that first), improved high-speed data and better web-type applications should help their cause.

No news yet of whether Firefox OS will be making its way to Canada's carriers, but it will nonetheless be interesting to see how this new upstart is accepted by the market.

Can it be disruptive enough to take the some of Android's market share in the lower end of the market or will it be the next Meego or Bada, destined to anonymity?