Remember, the point of Firefox OS was not to challenge or take over the market with Firefox OS devices. It was to develop web APIs for phone things, like the dialer, video, voice, accelerometer, etc. And they succeeded! That's why the statement says "We are proud of the benefits Firefox OS added to the Web platform". Other browsers adopted the tech, and all phone browsers are better off for the project. That's a win.
Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
31–40 of 331 posts
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#32Mozilla is shifting to use their web platform for connected devices and IoT efforts. The IoT space is a mess right now and I think that Mozilla could do a lot of good there. I think that Firefox OS as a phone operating system will always be available for hackers to port and install on their own devices.
> The IoT space is a mess right now and I think that Mozilla could do a lot of good there.
I think that platforms with a thriving ecosystem in other markets have an advantage over Firefox OS, and Firefox OS doesn't offer any compelling advantages over, say, Linux (since at the kernel level, that's what it IS) to offset that disadvantage.
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#33Firefox appeared at a time when there was huge potential being stifled by a stagnant monopoly in the space, and people were desperate for something good. It filled a real need, and people loved it. FirefoxOS appeared at a time when there was huge potential being actively being pushed forward and innovated on by the two largest tech companies in the space, and people already had two great options to choose from. It fi…
But when they tried to pioneer privacy respecting ads in the new tab window, they were repeatedly and roundly criticised here, too...
"Pioneer"? Really? Is the bar so low now that embedding ads into the browser is considered innovative?
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#34Firefox appeared at a time when there was huge potential being stifled by a stagnant monopoly in the space, and people were desperate for something good. It filled a real need, and people loved it. FirefoxOS appeared at a time when there was huge potential being actively being pushed forward and innovated on by the two largest tech companies in the space, and people already had two great options to choose from. It fi…
According to IDC the Worldwide Smartphone Market in 2015:
Android ... 81.2%
iOS ... 15.8%
Windows Phone ... 2.2%
Others ... 0.8%
Android ... 82.6%
iOS ... 14.1%
Windows Phone ... 2.3%
Others ... 0.9%
@downvoter: it's a forcast by the well known IDC, also the current market share (2015) is interesting on its own
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#35Guess it's up to Canonical to make Ubuntu Touch a viable open source smartphone OS - are there even devices running it that are being sold in the U.S.? Did not expect that Sailfish OS would outlive Firefox OS.
As much as I respect Mozilla, when the user experience is worse than a cheap Android 1.6, you should know you've got a problem. It's cool that they tried, but on one hand if you want an open-source OS it makes much more sense to fork Android, and yes I believe Ubuntu is doomed as well.
And for Mozilla this may mean more resources spent into Firefox for Android, a mobile browser that is turning out to be the browser of choice for power users due to its extensions, an awesome browser that could use some love from Mozilla as it's lagging behind Chrome in terms of standards relevant for mobiles (e.g. push notifications, app manifest). And Firefox on the desktop needs some love as well. The multiprocess support is almost there, except for a list of bugs that keep delaying it.
Mozilla has many things on its plate. Firefox OS is a cool experiment, but it didn't work, so time to move on.
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#36Firefox appeared at a time when there was huge potential being stifled by a stagnant monopoly in the space, and people were desperate for something good. It filled a real need, and people loved it. FirefoxOS appeared at a time when there was huge potential being actively being pushed forward and innovated on by the two largest tech companies in the space, and people already had two great options to choose from. It fi…
Completely agree that they should turn their focus towards solving privacy and identity management.
I'm hoping that this might mean they can direct some resources towards Persona development again. Or at least experiment with something new in this area.
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#37Mozilla is shifting to use their web platform for connected devices and IoT efforts. The IoT space is a mess right now and I think that Mozilla could do a lot of good there. I think that Firefox OS as a phone operating system will always be available for hackers to port and install on their own devices.
"The IoT space is a mess right now" But is also almost entirely vapour. Seeing this news gave me relief that Mozilla might be pulling their heads out of the clouds chasing fantastical dreams of mobile platforms, but if anything IoT is worse!
IoT lacks consistant "full-stack" standards. Someone as big as Mozilla could make things less messier by adopting standards on some/all layers of IoT. This is an area worth exploring "for the greater good".
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#38I must say I'm not entirely surprised, though part of me wished they had gone through with it, would of been interesting to have more than just 2 options for a phone. I am reminded of PalmOS though for some reason, similar project if I remember correctly.
Try Jolla so your dreams can be crushed twice.
I wonder if Jolla has a higher chance of survival, because it's niche enough to be focused, rather than chasing after a world market. Sailfish OS might outlive Ubuntu Touch.
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#39Firefox appeared at a time when there was huge potential being stifled by a stagnant monopoly in the space, and people were desperate for something good. It filled a real need, and people loved it. FirefoxOS appeared at a time when there was huge potential being actively being pushed forward and innovated on by the two largest tech companies in the space, and people already had two great options to choose from. It fi…
Outside of hacker news, I haven't heard of Firefox OS even once. They had no marketing to speak of, and you have to complete HARD on marketing to get into that market. "If you build it they will come" isn't a valid benchmark when there's already two options with massive market share that consumers are more or less happy with. (Since it's talked about in some replies, I live in the US).
They have done a lot of marketing with their partner Orange in Africa. They promoted 40$ phones. It didn't get much traction because users in Africa already had good viable Android phones for that price tag.
Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
#40Firefox appeared at a time when there was huge potential being stifled by a stagnant monopoly in the space, and people were desperate for something good. It filled a real need, and people loved it. FirefoxOS appeared at a time when there was huge potential being actively being pushed forward and innovated on by the two largest tech companies in the space, and people already had two great options to choose from. It fi…
Completely agree that they should turn their focus towards solving privacy and identity management. I'm hoping that this might mean they can direct some resources towards Persona development again. Or at least experiment with something new in this area.
+1 for Persona. Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10436123
Re: privacy / security, I really wish they hadn't dropped Thunderbird.