Mozilla just got a big partner to create Firefox OS devices and it's none other than Apple's iPhone and iPad manufacturer, Foxconn. The two companies announced a partnership, Monday, and will be holding a press event on June 3 to make the partnership official. The companies will also reportedly unveil a new device running Firefox OS.
Foxconn is famous for being Apple's manufacturer for many of its popular gadgets. The company is also the world's largest manufacturer of consumer electronics, so it knows a little something about building quality products. The new partnership comes on the heels of reports claiming that Foxconn has been looking into creating its own branded hardware in order to diversify its business as it has been seeing slow growth of Apple products. This story sounds very similar to HTC who also started out as a manufacturer for some of the biggest smartphone companies a few years ago before it decided to use its expertise and launch its own hardware for consumers.
The partnership between Mozilla and Foxconn is a major boon to the Firefox OS, a new mobile operating system that is based on Linux. Firefox OS allows developers to create applications for the platform very easily by using HTML, Javascript, and other completely open web application APIs.
According to sources, Mozilla and Foxconn are expected to announce a new tablet at the June 3 press event. This will be the first tablet to be announced running Firefox OS. Mozilla had previously begun selling two developers edition smartphones in April, which quickly sold out. Mozilla is billing Firefox OS as a completely open mobile operating system that will enter the mobile world to compete with iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry.
Foxconn will be the 19th company to partner with Mozilla to bring Firefox OS devices to market. Mozilla already has some pretty big partners for its new mobile operating system - these include Sprint, Deutsche Telekom, LG, Huawei, and SingTel, to name a few. It will be very interesting to see if there really is room for another mobile operating system to thrive, as Apple's iOS and Google's Android own the mobile space by large margins compared to Microsoft and BlackBerry.
We'll know the full details of this partnership and the devices that are announced on June 3. So remember to mark that date.
