$25 Firefox OS Smartphones Aim To Conquer Low-End Segment In Emerging Markets

Earlier this year in February Mozilla announced that it had partnered up with Spreadtrum, a China-based chipmaker, to develop Firefox OS smartphones that cost under $25. There might not be much market for these devices in the West but in markets like Indonesia and India they can do very well. Mozilla has now announced that its teaming up with two local manufacturers in India to bring ultra-low-cost Firefox OS smartphones to the country.

The devices, developed in collaboration with India’s Intex and Spice, are set to hit the market in the next few months. They’ll seriously undercut other low-cost smartphones like the Moto G, Nokia X and the BlackBerry Z3 which are already competing for a piece of the pie in lucrative emerging markets.

Cheap Firefox OS smartphones will give local manufacturers a leg up on the competition as they’ll offer customers significantly cheaper options for upgrading from a feature phone to a smartphone. Particularly in the case of India these devices will be affordable for the mass market.

While Mozilla itself defined the ultra-low-cost category in the $25 range, both Intex and Spice are yet to confirm exactly how much their Firefox OS smartphones are going to cost. However the top brass has high expectations for the platform and believe that they really might be able to make waves in the market.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: firefox os, Mozilla