Mozilla has announced today that development on Firefox OS is going to stop after version 2.6 of its operating system for smartphones is released, finally ending speculation about the future of Firefox OS on smartphones. This announcement comes two months after the company said that its Firefox OS platform will no longer be available on mobile phones in the future. Mozilla had launched Firefox OS on smartphones to enable manufacturers to build very low-cost devices.
“We are announcing our plan to end-of-life support for smartphones after the Firefox OS 2.6 release,” writes Mozilla in a community announcement, “this means that Firefox OS for smartphones will no longer have staff involvement beyond May.”
Marketplace, Mozilla’s one-stop shop for apps designed for Firefox OS devices and those running Firefox for Android or Firefox desktop, will no longer accept submissions for Android, desktop and tablet from March 29th after which all apps that don’t support Firefox OS will be removed. The company has said that it will continue accepting Firefox OS apps until next year and is yet to reveal when it’s going to stop accepting those apps.
Mozilla’s aim was to push Firefox OS in emerging markets across the globe where a strong demand for cheap handsets exists. ZTE was one of the manufacturers that released a Firefox OS mobile phone but it didn’t do so well. The company appears to have weighed all of its options and has now decided to effectively give up on the mobile phone market altogether.
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