Mozilla is developing an open-source mobile operating system called Boot to Gecko, designed to compete with Android and iOS by dramatically reducing smartphone costs. The non-profit unveiled the project at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where chief technology officer Brendan Eich said the goal is to break open the closed mobile platforms that have come to dominate the industry.
The system runs entirely on web technology, meaning calls, messaging, and browsing are all handled at the browser layer. That approach reduces dependence on memory-intensive middleware and cuts hardware costs substantially. Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications group, has signed on as a launch partner and plans to sell devices on the platform within six to eight months.
The primary target market is Latin America, where smartphone adoption lags far behind overall mobile use. In Brazil, mobile penetration reaches 75 percent, but smartphones account for just five percent of that. Telefonica's Carlos Domingo said prices could run more than 10 times lower than an iPhone, and two to three times cheaper than Nokia's entry-level Lumia, which starts at 189 euros.
Eich, who invented the JavaScript programming language, acknowledged that Android and iOS hold roughly 70 to 80 percent of the smartphone market. He said Mozilla aims to capture the bulk of whatever share remains open to a third platform.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2012, in its own words.