Firefox to launch “open system mobile ecosystem” with Firefox OS

With the increasing number of mobile operating systems competing in the already crowded market, a new player jumping into the fray would not be expected. But that is exactly what Mozilla, best known for its Firefox web browser on personal computers, is doing with its Firefox OS, an "open mobile ecosystem" aimed at smartphones around the world.

The company is previewing the OS at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Mozilla plans to launch the new operating system in global markets where consumers are changing over from so-called "feature phones" to smartphones.

The first wave of Firefox OS devices is lined up for arrival this summer for consumers in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela. The US is on the roadmap too, however availability is scheduled for later.

Of the 18 announced mobile operators, Sprint is the only one supporting Firefox OS that would be familiar to mobile users in the US in the list that  includes América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Telecom Italia Group, Telefónica, Telenor, Telstra, TMN and VimpelCom.

Mozilla, however, plans to offer some familiar apps as part of a Firefox Marketplace that would be launched simultaneously with the new operating system, which would be supplied by players like AccuWeather, Airbnb, Box, Cut the Rope, Disney Mobile Games, EA Games, Facebook, MTV Brasil, Nokia HERE, SoundCloud and Twitter.