Mozilla announced on Tuesday at its developer event in Orlando that it would stop offering Firefox OS phones through operators. Despite being the cheaper alternative to Android-OS phones and Apple iPhones, the device suffered from weak sales.
Even if the OS was one of the major projects that Mozilla included in its recent yearly report, the move did not surprise industry observers.
Explaining the withdrawal of the phone, Mozilla Senior Vice President of Connected Services Ari Jaaksi said in a statement, "Firefox OS proved the flexibility of the Web, scaling from low-end smartphones all the way up to HD TVs. However, we weren't able to offer the best user experience possible, and so we will stop offering Firefox OS smartphones through carrier channels," quotes PCWorld.
While the Firefox browser, introduced by Mozilla in 2002, was well received and provided positive changes to web browsing, it was a different experience for the Firefox OS phone which found it difficult to compete with the giants in the phone manufacturing business.
Mozilla's initial plan was to veer from the app store model and make the most for HTML5 that has features which allow interactive apps delivered through the Web instead standalone apps. While it is the future for desktops, it is a different case for mobile devices. PCWorld says that the Firefox apps need further finetuning to use mobile hardware such as gyroscopes and cameras.
The announcement comes on the heels of Mozilla's announcement last week that it is searching for alternative sites for its Thunderbird email and chat client. It also introduced its new ad blocker, reports TechCrunch.