Mozilla: No Plans to Launch Firefox Phone in USA

By Jane McEntegart
published

Mozilla Executive Chair Mitchell Baker revealed the news at the OpenMobile Summit.

If you were hoping to get your hands on a Firefox OS phone and are living in the United States, you're going to be disappointed. According to Mozilla, there are no plans to launch any Firefox OS phones in the United States. This is despite previous statements that devices running the OS would arrive in the United States in 2014.

CNet cites Mozilla Executive Chair Mitchell Baker as saying "currently, there are no plans to launch in the U.S." This is a direct contradiction of previous statements made by former CEO Gary Kovacs at Mobile World Congress and at AllThingsD earlier this year. Speaking at MWC, Kovacs said the phones would arrive in 2014. At the D: Dive Into Mobile conference-, Kovacs said that it didn't make sense to launch version 1.0 all over the world.

"In the early days -- by the way, we're talking about a version 1.0 product -- our whole mission is to stimulate the ecosystem, just like we did with the desktop browser," he said. "Once the standards were set, connected users exploded. In the short term, it'll be brand appeal -- we're launching in areas where Firefox has good brand recognition."

Still, just because there are no official plans to bring Firefox OS to the USA, that doesn't mean we'll be left out in the cold completely. Back in August, ZTE's Firefox OS-based 'ZTE Open' smartphone was made available on eBay for users in both North America and the UK. It sold out in a single weekend. It's now back in stock and on sale (with an $80 price tag). 

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Jane McEntegart
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer
    Read: We don't want to get sued out of existence by Microsoft, Apple, and maybe Google so we're not even bothering with the US market until the whole patent thing gets reformed. You really can't blame them...
    Reply
  • JD88
    Firefox OS is really a very good concept. Most of the major websites have HTML 5 web apps that work nearly as well as their local counterparts from Android and IOS.

    As I've discovered with my Chromebook, the vast majority of my needs, especially on the go, can be satisfied by web based solutions. There's no reason a phone can't have a similar setup. This situation only improves as HTML 5 based content spreads and improves.
    Reply
  • jurassic512
    I've seen this OS reviewed and it's just bad... really bad. Slow, choppy, nothing new compared to current mobile OS's. Thank you for keeping it overseas Mozilla. Thank you thank you thank you.
    Reply
  • Nashnir
    " Thank you for keeping it overseas Mozilla. Thank you thank you thank you. "

    I don't understand. If you don't like it; don't buy it.
    You sound like you would be forced to buy it if it ever was selling in a store near you.
    Reply
  • Robochamp
    11975860 said:
    ..no one would buy it.

    Do you troll because you are a child OR an unemployed adult?
    Reply
  • southernshark
    In Latin America it's always smart to have two phones, one that's not so nice and one that is nice. That way, when you are robbed (not if but when), you can give them the cheaper phone. But you don't want to give them a phone that is too cheap, because that might piss them off. So this is a good phone for Latin America.
    Reply
  • JD88
    11975893 said:
    11975860 said:
    ..no one would buy it.

    Do you troll because you are a child OR an unemployed adult?

    I think it's safe to say he didn't buy his own iPhone 4S.
    Reply
  • shovenose2
    My aunt is very happy with her first smartphone, the ZTE Open I passed on to her after reviewing it (being one of the first people to get one).
    So, yes, it's a useful device and I would easily recommend Firefox OS phones for use.
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    I don't know if another operating system (and ecosystem) is advantageous to consumers at this point. While Windows phone has succeeded far more in non-US markets, even IT can't garner more of a userbase and there's an entire software company (and billions of dollars) behind it. And it's not even a bad phone platform either. My guess is FF phone OS (if it deploys) will be low-end, low-budget phone, and probably won't go much beyond that.
    Reply