Orange to bring Firefox OS to 13 new markets in Africa and Middle
East; Mozilla, KDDI, LG U+, Telefonica and Verizon
collaborate on new category of phones based on Firefox OS
BARCELONA, Spain, March 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile World
Congress -- Mozilla, the mission-based organization dedicated
to keeping the power of the Web in people's hands, welcomed new
partners and devices to the Firefox OS ecosystem at an event in
Barcelona, leading into Mobile
World Congress.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150301/178619
Mozilla President Li Gong
summarized the status of Firefox OS, which currently scales across
devices ranging from the world's most affordable smartphone to 4K
Ultra HD TVs. "Two years ago Firefox OS was a promise. At MWC 2014,
we were able to show that Firefox OS scales across price ranges and
form factors. Today, at MWC 2015, we celebrate dozens of successful
device launches across continents, adoption of Firefox OS beyond
mobile, as well as growing interest and innovation around the only
truly open mobile platform. Also, we are proud to report that three
major chip vendors contribute to the Firefox OS ecosystem."
Firefox OS MWC 2015 News in Detail:
- Mozilla, KDDI, LG U+, Telefonica and Verizon Wireless
collaborate to create a new category of smartphones: a new range of
intuitive and easy-to-use phones. The companies are
collaborating to contribute to the Mozilla community and create a
new range of Firefox OS phones for a 2016 launch in various form
factors - flips, sliders and slates - that balance the simplicity
of a basic phone (calls, texts) with the more advanced features of
a smartphone such as fun applications, content, navigation, music
players, camera, video, LTE, VoLTE, email and Web browsing. For
more details and supporting quotes see blog.mozilla.org
- Orange announces bringing Firefox OS to 13 markets as part
of a new digital offer: Today, Orange puts the mobile Internet
within reach of millions more people, otherwise not previously
addressed, with the launch of a new breakthrough digital offer
across its significant African and Middle Eastern footprint. The
Orange Klif digital offer starts from under US$40 (€35), inclusive of data, voice and text
bundle and sets a new benchmark in price that will act as a major
catalyst for smartphone and data adoption across the region. The 3G
Firefox OS smartphone is exclusive to Orange and will be available
from Q2 in 13 of Orange's markets in the region, including, but not
limited to, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Botswana, Madagascar, Mali, The Ivory
Coast, Jordan, Niger, Kenya,
Mauritius and Vanuatu.
ALCATEL ONETOUCH collaborates with Orange and announced more
details on the new phone today:
- ALCATEL ONETOUCH expands mobile internet access with the
newest Firefox OS phone, the Orange Klif. The Orange Klif
offers connectivity speeds of up to 21 Mbps, is dual SIM, and
includes a two-megapixel camera and micro-SD slot. The addition of
the highly optimised Firefox OS meanwhile allows for truly seamless
Web browsing experiences, creating a powerful Internet-ready
package.
The Orange Klif is the first Firefox OS phone powered by a MediaTek
processor.
- Mozilla revealed further details about upcoming versions of
Firefox OS, among them: Improved performance and support of
multi-core processors, enhanced privacy features, additional
support for WebRTC, right to left language support and an NFC
payments infrastructure.
- Earlier this week, KDDI Corporation announced an investment in
Monohm, a US based provider of innovative IoT devices based on
Firefox OS. Monohm's first product "Runcible" will be showcased at
the Mozilla booth at MWC 2015.
The Firefox OS ecosystem continues to expand with new partners
and devices ranging from the line of Panasonic 4K Ultra HD TVs to
the world's most affordable smartphone:
"Just months ago, Cherry Mobile introduced the ACE, the first
Firefox OS smartphone in the
Philippines, which is also the most affordable smartphone in
the world. We are excited that the ACE, which keeps gaining
positive feedback in the market, is helping lots of consumers move
from feature phones to smartphones. Through the close partnership
with Mozilla Firefox OS, we will continue to bring more affordable
quality mobile devices to consumers," said Maynard Ngu, Cherry
Mobile CEO.
With today's announcements, Firefox OS will be available from
leading operator partners in more than 40 markets in the next year
on a total of 17 smartphones.
Firefox OS unlocks the power of the Web as the platform and will
continue to expand across markets and device categories as we move
forward the Internet of Things (IOT), using open Web technology to
enable operators, hardware manufacturers and developers to create
innovative and customized applications and products for consumers
to use across these connected devices.
Creating Content for Mobile, on Mobile Devices
Mozilla today unveiled the beta version of Webmaker, a free and
open source mobile content creation app, which strips away the
complexity of traditional Web creation. Webmaker will be available
for Android, Firefox OS, and via a modern mobile browser on other
devices in over 20 languages later this year. For more info, please
visit webmaker.org/localweb
About Mozilla
Mozilla has been a pioneer and advocate
for the Web for more than 15 years. We create and promote open
standards that enable innovation and advance the Web as a platform
for all. Today, hundreds of millions of people worldwide use
Mozilla Firefox to experience the Web on computers, tablets and
mobile devices. With Firefox OS and Firefox Marketplace, Mozilla is
driving a mobile ecosystem that is built entirely on open Web
standards, freeing mobile providers, developers and end users from
the limitations and restrictions imposed by proprietary
platforms.
For more information, visit www.mozilla.org.
Contact
Global Mozilla press team can be reached
through press@mozilla.com
Visit Mozilla at MWC 2015 in Hall 3, Stand 3C30.