Mozilla goes after Android, Apple with cheaper phone pledge

BARCELONA: Mozilla, which brought the free web browser Firefox to the masses, now wants to do the same for mobile users, with a new open source operating system that could drastically slash smartphone prices.

The non-profit group's so-called Boot to Gecko project will go after Google's Android or Apple's iOS, to create an alternative which could generate smartphones that are "10 times cheaper" than an iPhone while offering similar experiences to those running on other platforms.

"We want to pioneer a category," Brendan Eich, who is Mozilla's chief technology officer, told AFP at the world's biggest mobile fair in Barcelona.

"We see the mobile world recreating the wall of gardens in the 1990s that AOL had," lamented Eich, referring to restrictions imposed by the Internet provider two decades ago.

Mozilla therefore wants to "disrupt" the closed system, and open it up to competition for greater innovation.

The idea is for a platform that is completely reliant on the web, meaning that all of the phones capabilities, including calls, messaging, and browsing functions, would be web-based.

Being on the web removes the need for much of the intermediary software that requires large memory or speedy processors - both of which are expensive.

As a result, it is able to cut costs dramatically.

The group has partnered with Telefonica on the project, with the Spanish giant aiming to ship phones running on the new OS this year. (AFP)