In a move that should ruffle a few feathers at Google, Mozilla on Thursday opened the doors to Firefox Marketplace for Android device owners using the latest build of Firefox Aurora. This release, meant for "early adopters and testers", is a means for developers to get feedback on their apps as the Firefox Marketplace matures.
"Just last year, we started working to turn the Web into a viable apps development platform," the company said. "We created the Firefox Marketplace to allow developers to build, distribute and monetize rich, immersive apps that use Web technologies like HTML, JavaScript and CSS. We’ve made amazing progress developing Web APIs across platforms as we work to unlock the power of the Web on mobile, just as we did on desktop."
Already there are a large number of apps Android device owners can download and launch straight from the home screen spanning books/reference, business, education, entertainment/sports, games, health/fitness, lifestyle, music and news/weather. Six featured apps are showcased along the Marketplace top including Solitaire, Twitter and Jaunty.
Installation of the apps is rather straightforward, but they don't appear in Android's Settings / Apps menu when it comes time to delete them. To get these apps off the device, Firefox Aurora users must navigate to Tools / Apps. On this local page, users can long-press the listed app and choose Add to Home Screen (which they usually already are), or Delete.
"It’s still early days for Firefox Marketplace Aurora – we’ll be adding payments, ratings, reviews and more soon- stay tuned," Mozilla said. "The Firefox Marketplace will initially be available with Firefox for Android Aurora. Support for Firefox OS and Firefox on other platforms will come in the future."
To get started, follow these steps, straight from Mozilla:
1. Download Firefox Aurora on your Android phone
2. Open Firefox Aurora and in the Options Menu, and choose "Apps" (it was "Tools" then "Apps" for me)
3. Browse the Marketplace, install and use apps
4. Click Settings (in the Options Menu), then tap on "Feedback" to tell Mozilla what you think
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