Firefox OS Ecosystem: Ambitions and Limits of an Open Source Operating System for Mobile Devices
Developing the Firefox OS and ensuring its important place on the market is difficult because of technological and business limits that will be discussed in this chapter.
Abstract
Firefox OS is an operating system for mobile devices. It is developed by Mozilla and is based on web technologies. Developed applications are therefore not tied to a given type of hardware. Mozilla works on standardisation of Web APIs, so that the device hardware could be accessed more easily. It also introduced its sign-in system for the Web and furthermore, it wants to redefine the way payments work for mobile applications. Firefox OS is not directly competing with Android and iOS, although it has some common target markets with Android. It could be an opportunity to weaken the iOS and Android duopoly. For now it targets users that don't have smartphones yet and is mostly used on low-end devices. The biggest challenge of Firefox OS is to assure a stable position in the mobile OS ecosystem and to get a large volume of users. Mozilla has an ambition to improve the web and make the web the platform. However developing the Firefox OS and ensuring its important place on the market is difficult because of technological and business limits that will be discussed in this chapter.