Mozilla, the browser vendor that people still kind of remember, but barely, has recently entered the smartphone game with an operating system aptly called “Firefox OS”. Chances are you haven’t seen or held a Firefox OS device because no one is making them. Well, I take that back, a few Firefox OS phones are out there, but they cost as much as Android phones, so … why buy a phone with no ecosystem?
Now it’s one thing for an open source non-profit to create an OS and fail, it’s another thing altogether when one of the world’s largest multinational corporations do the same. Enter Tizen, Samsung’s other mobile OS that’s currently being worked on in case Google decides to get fresh and put some restrictions on Android. Wonsuk Lee (pictured above), the Chief Secretary of Samsung Electronics, recently gave a talk in Seoul where he said he would like to see Tizen joining forces with Mozilla in order to create a robust HTML5 based platform. And that’s it. No details were given, and I don’t even know if he’s serious, but it says something that Samsung wants to partner with Mozilla of all people to take on Android and iOS. Can a third ecosystem exist? If you listen to Microsoft, the answer is yes, and Windows Phone is that third choice, but there’s questions as to the sustainability of that platform as Samsung, HTC, Sony, and LG enter the mid-to-low end of the smartphone spectrum. And let’s not forget, a phone without Gmail and Google Maps is kind of useless, no?
