So, Firefox is to develop a mobile version of it’s browser…
No one seems to be pointing out that Google practically ‘owns’ the development of Firefox (the browser’s lead engineer and most of the other full-time devs are Google staff) – and so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to assume this to ramp up the creation of a kick-ass browser for the GPhone.
The dates given are ‘next year’, which in turn could indicate that that the GPhone won’t be around until then (clearly Google couldn’t launch the phone without a fully matured browser – if this is for the GPhone).
I wrote about this back in June, guessing that Firefox/Google would be moving into this space. But as I warned then:
“Google’s significant backing of Firefox development and its interest in the mobile space must also guarantee something is going on with Firefox. However we in the community need to make sure that the Mozilla/Firefox engine doesn’t get 0wned by Google solely for their benefit in the Google phone.”
It’s also very curious that Firefox are not able to announce (read: commit) to which mobile platforms they’ll be supporting.
What mobile devices will Firefox run on?
We haven’t yet determined what our target platforms will be. If you’re a mobile device or software-stack developer, your insight and support will be very helpful in determining which configurations we can and should support in our initial efforts.
Seems odd that the project is beginning without it being clear the target devices (or device profiles, at least). Perhaps it’s because the key candidate device (the GPhones) are not announced yet?