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Business News/ Industry / Infotech/  Mozilla says mobility No. 1 priority
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Mozilla says mobility No. 1 priority

Mozilla is looking at expanding its OS for use in TVs, dongles, set-top boxes as well as wearable devices in India

James Ho said the company is looking at virtually anything that has a display and is connected as a potential target for Firefox OS. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/MintPremium
James Ho said the company is looking at virtually anything that has a display and is connected as a potential target for Firefox OS. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

New Delhi: Mozilla Corp., a unit of not-for-profit organization Mozilla Foundation and owner of the Firefox browser, wants its operating system (OS) to be a part of connected gadgets, including smart televisions and wearable devices besides tablets and smartphones, in India.

Mozilla, which is also considering setting up a research and development (R&D) facility through its partners in India, is working with Panasonic Corp. for the next generation of smart TV, James Ho, senior director of the mobile devices group at Mozilla Corp., said in an interview on Friday.

It was only last week that the company announced a deal with Spice Mobility Ltd and Intex Technologies to launch its Firefox OS for low-cost smartphones. Mozilla is now looking at expanding its OS for use in televisions, dongles, set-top boxes as well as wearable devices in India, said Ho.

The launch of the OS for entry-level smartphones, ahead of Google Inc’.s low-cost Android One smartphone launch due in mid-September, marks Mozilla’s entry into mobile devices.

“Mobility is a number one priority for Mozilla right now, because if you see the trend, a lot of Internet users migrated from desktop to mobile device in the last two years," said Ho. “Firefox OS is built on top of Web technology. We are trying to close the gap from desktop usage of Web to mobile usage of Web."

Ho said the company is looking at tablets, smart TVs, TV dongles, wearable devices and “virtually anything that has a display and is connected", as a potential target for Firefox OS.

“Anything that can consume online content and service like payments systems, car entertainment systems and set-top boxes is our area of interest," he said, adding, “India is our number one priority."

Another area of interest for Mozilla is education sector in India.

“In the education market (in India), more affordable product like Google’s Chromebook is one of the possibilities we are looking at," Ho said. “Many online service providers are trying to bring their content to users at ultra-affordable prices, that’s the another potential area."

Mozilla will be competing with the likes of Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd for market share in the smartphone market as well as for next-generation smart gadgets, including wearable devices.

“Google is in the same market, but condition of so-called entry-level smartphone would be different. Google is seen like a $100 product but for Mozilla, we are looking at sub $50 space," said Ho.

Acknowledging that his was a “small" company, when compared with Google, Ho said Mozilla is targeting smaller cities and towns.

“India has become a focus market for lot of vendors because of the kind of growth the Indian mobile market is witnessing. The smartphone market grew by 84% in second quarter of 2014, year-on-year," said Karan Thakkar, senior market analyst at research firm, International Data Corp., India. “There is no doubt that India is a priority market for Firefox, but they should ideally focus on one area and gain some visibility rather than trying to venture out in other areas such as smart televisions, dongles, etc…"

Android OS is dominant in the mobility space with more than 95% share in smartphone and close to 90% in the tablet market, according to IDC.

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Published: 02 Sep 2014, 11:44 PM IST
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