Mozilla had announced the Firefox OS based smartphones at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in February. Back then, Mozilla made a promise to introduce very affordable smartphones for emerging markets. Now, Mozilla has partnered with Intex and Spice, two of India’s leading mobile device brands, to bring the first Firefox OS devices to India in the next few months. The company has not shared the specifications or expected pricing of the smartphones as yet.
“Intex is excited to announce its association with Mozilla which will enable us to develop unparalleled smart devices on the latest Firefox OS platform,” said Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, business head, mobile, Intex Technologies (India). “The platform will give us an EDGE in upgrading buyers from feature phones to smartphones while making it affordable for the mass market. This will propel our devices to be much more than a way to use the Web, but take the engagement further and develop the Web as a mobile platform.”
Dilip Modi, co-founder & CEO of Spice, said, “We have been the technology innovators in India’s telecom industry and are pleased to introduce Firefox OS in India through our smartphones to cater to the country’s masses. This partnership with Mozilla showcases our commitment to providing the best technological innovations first-hand to our customers. We have high expectations from this partnership as we continue to constantly push the boundaries, and bring unique and exciting products to our customers. These phones will be affordably priced to ensure everyone can enjoy and experience the power of the Firefox OS phone.”
Sony had released an experimental build of the Firefox OS for the affordable Xperia E in India but nothing much materialised after that. In coming months, we can expect Intex and Spice mobiles to introduce very affordable smartphones with Firefox OS running on top of it. While the pricing remains the mystery, we can already see Indian companies heating up the competition.