Mozilla and its partner device manufacturers are all ready to launch the first Firefox OS smartphones in five countries this June. Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs revealed at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference that it is the first wave roll-out of the operating system.
Mozilla is targeting the initial devices at the developing markets, as there is a demand for entry-level smartphones. The first countries to get a Firefox OS running phone will be Venezuela, Poland, Brazil, Portugal and Spain.
The non-profit also aims to take the OS to 11 more countries by the year-end. We are not sure right now which countries will be part of these eleven, but Mozilla had earlier said that it planned to bring Firefox OS phones to Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, and Serbia in mid-2013. So, we can at least see the Firefox phones in these countries this year apart from the already mentioned five, which will get the phones in June.
Kovacs also revealed that Firefox OS devices will reach United States in 2014. “In Silicon Valley we tend to see the world through high-end devices. But that’s not true in the rest of the world. So in the short term, we’re launching in emerging markets where Firefox is particularly strong. … It didn’t make sense for us to launch a version-one device around the world,” said Kovacs at D: Dive Into Mobile.
With the support of manufacturers like Sony, LG, Huawei, Alcatel and ZTE, it is certainly not hard to reach a wider audience.
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