How Mozilla's Firefox OS may enlist Android apps to its cause

Mozilla's upstart Firefox OS mobile operating system badly needs app support. And it may have found its answer in a 20-year-old programming language.

Mozilla CTO Andreas GalMozilla

The lack of apps are a common problem for operating systems challenging the two dominant mobile platforms, Google's Android and Apple's iOS. Without crucial software like WhatsApp for text messaging, customers steer clear and head for better supported operating systems from the big two.

But as CNET revealed in May, Mozilla is considering technology to run some Android apps directly on its own OS as a way to bridge the app gap. The nonprofit organization didn't detail its plans, but a project called j2me.js that Mozilla Chief Technology Officer Andreas Gal quietly launched last year could be key.

The j2me.js approach relies on the JavaScript programming language Mozilla founder and former Chief Executive Brendan Eich invented in 1995 for the Firefox progenitor Netscape Navigator. Android apps are written in a different programming language, Java, but j2me.js can translate Java programs so they run on a JavaScript foundation instead.

If successful, the j2me.js approach could help Firefox OS gain a foothold so Mozilla can counter the mobile power Apple and Google hold over most people with a smartphone by running at least the key apps that are in demand. If nothing else, it gives Firefox OS a flicker of life as a fledgling operating system trying to gain the attention of consumers, handset vendors and wireless carriers.

But there are complications. Using software to bridge between operating systems is complex and technically difficult with a poor track record. And even if it works, it's big step away from encouraging developers to write apps directly for Firefox OS.

Technical workarounds also won't help Mozilla solve the chicken-and-egg problem that all iOS and Android challengers face, said Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson. With few users, developers don't write apps, and with few apps, users stay away. On top of that, Mozilla's agenda hasn't been focused on features that consumers are looking for, like camera quality.

"Firefox OS has always felt like it was trying to solve a philosophical problem -- closed ecosystems -- rather than a customer problem," Dawson said. "The vast majority of customers are happy with one of the major operating systems already in the market."

Open philosophy

That philosophy is core to the technological choices Mozilla made since Gal began the Firefox OS project in 2011. And though it may not be enough to sell a phone, it is important.

Mozilla's objective with Firefox OS -- and all its other work -- is to give people more control over their online lives through the use of open software. To that end, Firefox OS is a browser-based operating system, meaning that its apps are written with the same technologies used to build websites -- HTML for content, CSS for formatting and JavaScript for programs. In principle, a Web app can run on any browser, a strong contrast to iOS and Android apps that only run on Apple and Google operating systems.

Andreas Gal describes the j2me.js project at a 2014 conference. J2me.js lets Java software for older feature phones run on Firefox OS, but the technology could in principle be adapted for Android apps, too.Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

The open Web approach breaks the operating system lock: because every operating system needs a browser, a Web app will in principle run on it. It also means users don't have to go through Apple's App Store and iTunes service, or through the Google Play alternatives, to buy their software and download their movies. With an open Web approach, you don't have to purchase Angry Birds all over again if you switch from iOS to Android or vice-versa. Web-based services also make it easier to move without losing data like messages and fitness records.

Mozilla acknowledged the j2me.js plan as one of its exploratory routes for making "a few key" Android apps available in its Firefox Marketplace.

"We support and strive for a better Web experiences on mobile," the nonprofit organization said in a statement. "However, we believe that starting with the Web as the platform and adding support for native elements as needed, rather than the inverse, is the most open way to reach that goal."

Browsers appear to be a second priority for mobile software at Apple and Google. Apple helped pioneer the modern mobile Web with its introduction of the Safari browser for iOS in 2007, and Google has become even more active with its Chrome browser for Android. But Safari only lasted a few months last decade as the way Apple suggested programmers bring their software to iOS, and at May's Google I/O conference for developers, Chrome and Web programming were barely mentioned in the keynote speech compared to Android.

Programmers got the message. The Web remains important technology, but app developers are flocking in droves to build apps that run natively on iOS and Android. iOS boasts 1.5 million apps, and Android has 1.8 million, according to app analytics tracker App Annie.

Firefox OS statistics are hard to compare directly since websites can be reached directly and often are geared for all mobile operating systems. But Firefox on mobile -- Firefox OS and the Android version of Firefox combined -- accounted only for 0.4 percent of smartphone and tablet browser usage in May,according to analytics firm StatCounter.

J2me.js and the WhatsApp problem

One crucial program is WhatsApp, the text-messaging tool Facebook acquired for $19 billion in 2014. WhatsApp is popular as a way to send messages without incurring the fees carriers often charge for traditional text messages.

So far, there's no sign of WhatsApp for Firefox OS -- but that's something j2me.js could fix. Gal specifically highlighted WhatsApp in a 2014 talk about j2me.js at a JavaScript conference that was just published online in May.

"Messaging apps like WhatsApp are very popular," Gal said. "In some parts of the world...if you don't have them on your phone, nobody's going to buy it." But it's very hard to convince messaging-app developers to create Web-specific versions, he said. Line is available for Firefox OS, but Viber and WhatsApp aren't.

Enter j2me.js. To explain how it works, though, here's a little background.

Mozilla's project takes its name from Java 2 Micro Edition, which Java creator Sun Microsystems successfully spread to countless phones starting more than a decade ago. Modern smartphones run rings around those lower-end "feature phones" now, but Java did help programmers bring their software to the huge variety of phones on the market before iOS and Android grew dominant. Many apps -- including WhatsApp -- are built for Java.

Crucial to Java is a software layer called a Java virtual machine (JVM) that let the apps work regardless of the components in the phone, such as a Qualcomm or Intel processor, for example. It's an idea sufficiently useful that Google adapted it for Android's foundation, though it didn't use J2ME.

Translating Java

The JVM is essentially a computer unto itself. It runs the Java program and translates it into instructions the underlying computing device can understand. What Gal and his Mozilla colleagues did was create a JVM that runs on Firefox's ordinary JavaScript engine. That provides a bridge to get a Java app onto a browser foundation.

Andreas Gal describes j2me.js: It runs Java programs atop Firefox OS's JavaScript foundation.Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

Gal built j2me.js to run Java apps. But in principle the approach could be adapted to run their cousins, Android apps.

What's not clear is whether Facebook would look fondly on that kind of plan. If performance is bad or if apps don't look or work quite right, users might well blame WhatsApp even if it's not at fault. That could hurt a company's brand. And as happened with instant-messaging software like Yahoo Messenger and AIM on personal computers a decade ago, a company could well block software it doesn't like so it doesn't work on the service.

Facebook declined to comment on Mozilla's technology or its plans for supporting Firefox OS.

It's a long way toward the kind of robust app catalog found in iOS and Android. Even if Mozilla builds its j2me.js bridge to Android, it's only one step on the path to success for Firefox OS. But at least it's a step forward.

Mozilla to open first-world front in Firefox OS war

Firefox OS is Mozilla's browser-based operating system.Mozilla

BARCELONA -- Mozilla announced partnerships with Verizon Wireless and other carriers to bring phones running its Firefox OS to wealthy countries where the browser-based mobile operating system today is all but unknown.

The partnerships will mean Firefox OS phones in the United States, but Verizon isn't the only partner. Others announced here at the Mobile World Conference show are Japanese carrierKDDI, South Korea's LG U+ and Spain's Telefonica, and the first phones from the deals are expected in 2016.

The partnerships are notable given that Firefox OS so far has largely competed in developing countries where smartphone penetration is relatively low and where Firefox OS's low-end hardware needs can mean more affordable products. When Mozilla first announced Firefox OS two years ago, it listed Sprint as a partner and planned to reach the United States, but it backed off that plan after a few months.

Spreading into wealthy countries could help encourage more programmers to support Firefox OS. And that, in turn, could help Mozilla advance its Firefox OS mission: to break down some of the barriers that keep customers locked into the iOS or Android technologies. Success would mean Google and Apple app stores would cease being a gateway to software and content, that apps purchased once wouldn't have to be purchased again if customers changed smartphone OSes, and that programmers could write an app just once with Web technologies that span not just iOS, Android, and Firefox OS, but also Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, Tizen, Ubuntu and any other mobile operating system that arrives tomorrow.

Firefox OS has gradually spread to higher-end smartphones with the mainstream slab-of-glass touchscreen design, but many of the Firefox phones stemming from the new partnerships will embrace earlier phone designs that flip or slide open or that have hardware keyboards, said Mozilla Chief Technology Officer Andreas Gal.

"The operators see customer demand for these form factors. With Firefox OS we have the ability to actually serve that market," Gal said. "You'll see us broadening the categories we're bringing Firefox OS to."

The phones still won't take on Android and iOS flagship devices head-on. They'll be geared chiefly for entry-level customers upgrading from feature phones, Gal said. But those customers still want apps, fast mobile networks, and other modern features, he said.

"We see less and less competition in the entry-level segment with Android trending higher and higher in specs and Nokia Asha kind of disappearing," Gal said.

Small share

Mozilla needs every ally it can muster to take on the giants of the smartphone OS market, Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The former is the foundation for an immensely profitable business, and the latter powers most of the smartphones shipped today.

Going by market share, Firefox OS hasn't been a success, said Annette Zimmermann, research director for Gartner's consumer markets and technology group. "In a 1.2 billion smartphone unit market in 2014, they only shipped a bit over 2 million units," she said, and only a limited number of handset makers -- chiefly ZTE, Huawei, and TCL's Alcatel brand -- have embraced the OS, though that's changing with newer, bigger, higher-end models.

But what about progress with Mozilla's broader ambitions, to infuse the mobile technology with the openness that prevails on the Web? "I don't see any," Zimmermann said.

Mozilla CTO Andreas GalMozilla

Gal is patient, though.

"There are hundreds of millions of phones being sold every year -- more than billion. It takes time to grow in that market," Gal said.

Firefox OS phones are now available through 15 carriers in 30 countries, Gal said, and the Orange deal will increase that by another 13. Mozilla said that each month, about 3 million people visit its app store, the Firefox Marketplace, and download millions of apps.

And Mozilla's initial low-end thrust -- including a major new partnership with Orange to bring Firefox OS to 13 countries in the Middle East and Africa announced here -- could be helpful in the longer run. Analyst firm GfK believes smartphone growth rates will slow in 2015 "due to developed markets reaching saturation point," said analyst Kevin Walsh.

As a result, growth will shift to developing economies that buy cheaper phones. "We forecast emerging regions [will] drive growth in 2015 as smartphones further penetrate lower price points," he said, chiefly those costing less than $100.

Developer recruitment troubles

A strong point of Firefox OS is that, since it's a browser-based operating system, it can in principle just load a Web site or Web-based app. Even with iOS and Android apps a top developer priority, it's important to have a presence on the Web, too.

In practice, though, making sure Web apps are tailored for the small screen and tested with Firefox OS is another matter. Take the view of Erez Pilosof, chief executive of Hop, a startup trying to remake the world of email with a text messaging-style interface. It's currently developing a version of Hop for browsers on people's PCs based on its users' requests, Pilosof said. "We'll consider porting the Web version to Firefox OS, but I must say we have lots of users and never received a request for Firefox OS," he said.

Another pessimist is Rob McCarthy, technical advisor at Mobiquity, which develops mobile apps for a wide range of business clients.

"The only place we see Firefox going as a mobile OS is down-market, to people who can tolerate limited apps, less than ideal performance and low-end device quality," he said. "The OS itself does not do enough to enable it to be cost- or feature-competitive to Android in any mature market. Without that competitiveness, it's hard to see the value a developer can get out of Firefox OS in selling apps."

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Even Mozilla's Firefox OS partners say the app situation needs work. "We also want to see them develop the ecosystem," said Jean-Marc Polga, Orange's device program manager.

Web apps need better performance before they can run apps like Looksery, which analyzes faces in video to add special effects to people's appearance, said Looksery CEO Victor Shaburov. "This will not run as HTML5 now," he said. "Unfortunately we will not be able to support Firefox OS." Mozilla is working to cater to developers like him and game authors, though, with a JavaScript-speeding technology called asm.js.

Undercutting Android, influencing iOS

Gal, though, looks at more criteria for success than just apps. He also considers influence on iOS and Android.

Those operating systems, he said, have followed Mozilla's lead in advancing mobile Web technologies. "Today Android and iOS have more capabilities -- they have accepted APIs [application programming interfaces] that we proposed," Gal said. "The goal with Firefox OS is not just Firefox OS, but but make sure other OSes support the same APIs."

And even though Google's Android One program is bringing cheaper Android phones to developing countries, Firefox OS can undercut it.

"We heard back from vendors in India in particular that for them Firefox OS worked out better in sales numbers than Android One," Gal said, with the competition costing three or four times as much.

Firefox OS is maturing, too, and Gal thinks that will change how it looks and works.

"We had in the beginning to catch up to things native ecosystems could do three or four years ago," like Bluetooth or NFC radio communications. "The next step is less familiar territory -- to use the unique advantages of the Web and expose them more to the user," he said.

Specifically, that means making it easier to use software. With browsers today, you simply go to a Web page and it loads. There's no app store searching, downloading and installing.

With the Web, "You don't have to install something, you just experience it. When you go Amazon.com you don't download something. We think that's a more powerful experience than on iOS or Android," and he hopes Firefox OS will apply some pressure toward openness because of it.

To avoid Android pitfalls, Mozilla shoulders Firefox OS update burden

Something like this Mozilla reference phone, built with a processor from Chinese chipmaker Spreadtrum, will hit the market as a $25 device for customers who don't have the funds for higher-end phones.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

BARCELONA, Spain -- Mozilla will take over some responsibility for issuing Firefox OS updates that carriers today have, a move that could help users avoid the fate of Android phone owners saddled with older operating system versions.

"We are pushing that envelope," Chief Technology Officer Brendan Eich told CNET. "We think we can get people on Wi-Fi upgrading through Mozilla."

That would mean a person could step into an Internet cafe then update the software as soon as Mozilla releases a new version or security fix, rather than waiting for a handset maker to build, test, and release the update through a network operator partner.

But, Eich cautioned, "We are not there yet." OS updates are a risky proposition for carriers, which don't want to risk bricked phones and the attendant customer support difficulties.

Part of the change is driven by the fact that carriers aren't necessarily going to be in the loop with Mozilla's $25 Firefox OS smartphone, announced this week at Mobile World Congresshere. For that phone, people often will buy the phone from a bin at a retail store, Eich said, picking a carrier later.

Operating system updates can be a sore point for smartphones. Most Apple customers upgrade operating systems relatively swiftly, but even mid-range Android phones often don't see new versions of the operating system. That leaves customers without new features, makes lives difficult for app developers struggling to support older models, and exposes people to security risks.

Firefox OS is still a young challenger in the marketplace, with the first phones going on sale in July 2013 in Spain, but now it's available in 15 markets, chiefly Eastern Europe and Latin America.Firefox OS risks this problem, too. Although Mozilla issues Firefox OS updates at half the rate it does with Firefox -- every three months instead of every six weeks -- that's still too fast for some. Alcatel skipped the Firefox 1.2 update because of some problems with the 1.1 update.

"In the next several months, we'll add 12 new markets," said Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's acting chief executive officer, at a press conference at the show Sunday. "Later in the year, we'll have a large focus on Africa and Asia."

ZTE Open Firefox OS phone available online for Rs. 6,990

Anupam Saxena, October 25, 2013

While Mozilla and its partners have not announced an official rollout of Firefox OS based phones in the Indian market, online marketplace eBay India has announced that it will offer the ZTE Open, the first Firefox OS based smartphone, in India through its website. 

While the official statement from the company mentions the pricing as Rs. 8,590, the phone isavailable for Rs. 6,990 on the site with free shipping.
 
It's worth pointing out that ZTE had earlier announced that it would start selling the ZTE Open Firefox OS phone on the ZTE store on eBay US and UK in a bid to extend its reach to mainstream markets. However, India was not in the list, at that point in time.
 
It's also strange that the ZTE Open Firefox OS phone is not being sold by ZTE or eBay and instead by a Punjab-based seller 'randeep_singh_arora'. The phone comes with one-year third party warranty through a company called Serve Pro. eBay has not put up a special page dedicated to the product but is promoting the phone on social networks like Twitter through contests.
 
The ZTE Open was earlier launched with Telefonica in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia.
 
ZTE had first showcased the ZTE Open during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013. The ZTE Open features a 3.5-inch screen with HVGA display. The smartphones is powered by a Cortex A5 processor, which is clocked at 1GHz. It has 256MB of RAM, and 512MB of internal storage enhanced with a 4GB microSD card that comes as part of the package. It sports a 3.2-megapixel rear camera. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, A-GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities. The ZTE Open packs in a 1,200mAh battery. 
 
The ZTE Open offers all the functions expected from a smartphone including calls, messaging, email, camera in addition to built-in social integration with Facebook and Twitter, location-based services like Nokia HERE maps which include local transit and traffic information and features like the Firefox Web browser and the Firefox Marketplace. Applications already available on the Firefox Marketplace include eBay, Badoo, Terra, Kayak, The Weather Channel, TMZ,AOL, Wikipedia, CNNMoney, Huffington Post, Time, Facebook, Airbnb, Time Out, Twitter and SoundCloud.
 
ZTE Open key specifications

• 3.5-inch screen with HVGA display
• 1GHz processor
• 256MB of RAM
• 512MB of built-in storage
• Bluetooth, A-GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities
• 3.2-megapixel camera
• Firefox OS
• 114 x 62 x 12.5mm
• 1,200mAh battery

First Firefox OS-based smartphone launched in Europe

NDTV Correspondent, July 02, 2013

Spain's Telefonica is offering the world's first smartphone with the Firefox operating system to compete with devices running Google Android and Apple iOS.

The ZTE Open smartphone goes on sale in Spain this week for 69 euros (about $90) and will soon be available in several Latin American countries.

The device is aimed at the youth market and at people who are new to smartphones, Telefonica's chief of product development, Carlos Domingo, said during a Madrid press conference where he was joined by executives from Mozilla and telephone-maker ZTE.

Equipped with a 3.5-inch 320x480-pixel touchscreen, the ZTE Open includes a 3.2-megapixel camera, 256MB RAM and 512MB flash storage enhanced with a 4GB microSD card that comes as part of the package.

The purchase price includes 30 euros ($39) of pay-as-you-go credit.

The ZTE Open is fully integrated with Facebook and the Spain-based social network Tuenti and talks are on about incorporating the WhatsApp instant-messaging service, Telefonica said.

Commenting on the launch, Luis Miguel Gilperez, CEO of Telefonica Espana, said, "We believe that smartphones need to be more open and that the web is the platform for making this possible. Consumers should not be locked to any one system but have the choice to consume the content they want and the flexibility to be able to take it with them when they change devices. This first open web device marks a significant milestone in making this possible. This is just the beginning as we plan to bring a wide range of Firefox OS devices to our customers."

The ZTE Open is the first of a number of Firefox OS devices that will be launched by Telefonica this year, offering the benefits of this new open operating system across a range of different price points. Other device manufacturers supporting Firefox OS include Alcatel OneTouch, LG, Huawei and Sony.

Mozilla executives said the ZTE Open is the "first chapter" in what they expect to be a long project, one that is already attracting interest from many other telecommunications companies.