Firefox is one of the biggest players in the desktop browsing space, but when it comes to browsing the Web from a mobile device, Mozilla hasn’t made the leap. That’s all going to change soon, as the first version of Firefox Mobile (previously known by its codename Fennec) is being prepped for release by the end of the year. Nokia’s new N900 will be the first phone able to run Firefox Mobile. The N900 runs on the Linux-based Maemo operating system, and already ships with a lightweight browser based on Mozilla’s Gecko layout engine.
Mozilla has big plans for Firefox Mobile, including support for JetPack and WebGL.
Firefox Mobile is a project with high aspirations. How well it succeeds will be dependent on how much support it can gather from the community and how many device manufacturers are open to embracing an alternative to WebKit.
For consumers, whether you end up using Firefox Mobile or not, we see this development as a good thing. Innovation is often best spurred by competition, and it’s nice to see WebKit get some mobile push-back.
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