Foxconn and Mozilla confirm Firefox OS partnership

Mozilla has confirmed earlier reports saying that Foxconn is entering into a "wide ranging partnership" with it to develop and use the Firefox OS in Foxconn devices. Mozilla's SVP of Mobile Devices said: "This cooperation demonstrates the full potential of Firefox OS, the open Web mobile operating system, to enable not only the smartphone but also a wide range of mobile devices".

Foxconn announced the partnership itself at an event before the Computex show in Taiwan, where it said it is developing five devices that could include smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs. But, Young Liu, general manager for Foxconn's innovation digital systems business group, said that the company would make reference models of devices and has no plans to launch products under its own label.

He noted that "Firefox OS from Mozilla is based on HTML5 and open web technologies. The whole idea perfectly matches to the strategies promoted by Foxconn" and that the move is part of executing a "vision of ‘eight screens, one network, and one cloud’", where it would integrate software and hardware for the devices it makes rather than just building the hardware as it has done for companies such as Apple, Acer, Cisco, HP, Microsoft, Sony and Nokia.

(djwm)