Firefox, Ubuntu, Citizen and Sailfish: the new Android and iPhone rivals

"We do not want to create a new platform, but allow anyone to connect to a platform that already exists. The web is the platform. " With these words on the new operating system the Firefox, Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation's co-founder and current President of the Council, opened his speech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013, the higher the mobility World Congress which ended yesterday in Barcelona, Spain.
The speech is intended to calm the spirits companies in the mobile market as well as telephone operators, who are worried about the future of operating systems and applications. According to Mitchell, the Mozilla intends to break away from the closed model of system devices and app store from the same company, started by Apple in 2007 and also adopted, with some differences, by Google, Microsoft and BlackBerry.
This model has worked very well for the companies that control the platforms, like Apple. But for developers is another story. They cannot distribute their applications directly to users, because they have to go through app stores (Android even allows you to install applications from other stores, but the process is not so intuitive) and leave a portion of the profit with the store manager.
Carriers are also with one foot behind, since we don't earn anything on selling applications and, with just two dominant platforms — Apple and Google--lose bargaining power. Is based on those complaints that Mozilla and other companies are betting on smartphones that give more freedom to developers and better serve the interests of the operators.
Sailfish, systems of Jolla, and Citizen, Samsung and Intel, also will enter the competition (see story below).
Firefox browser system
Since the beginning of the Congress, Firefox is one of the most talked about news event halls. The open-source system was fully developed based on HTML5. This technology allows you to create applications that run on the web, using open standards. Firefox has the support of Telephone operator and, at the beginning of the MWC 2013, gained the support of 17 carriers, many of which are global groups, in addition to the first manufacturers.
ZTE showed its first low-cost smartphone with Firefox, the ZTE Open, which should hit stores in countries of Latin America and Europe, such as Colombia, Spain and Venezuela at the end of 2013. LG and Sony, the most recognized manufacturers still in the Smartphone market, also announced the intention to launch smartphones with Mozilla's system. "We don't have all the answers, but we had a good reception to Firefox and it moves the ecosystem," said Mitchell.
The Executive of Mozilla is not alone in the chorus for more operating systems options. It is common to see Internet users less popular operating system complain of delay in the launch of an application, like Instagram. So far, it is only available on the iPhone and Android and the company should not throw a native version for BlackBerry.
"We want to bring down the walls of applications. And have a competitive system against Android and also against Apple, "said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, which manages the Ubuntu, Linux-based system for PCs that will gain versions for smartphones and tablets, and TVs this year.
The first smartphones with Ubuntu, which has elegant design reminiscent of the iOS, should hit the market in October 2013. Canonical has released a test version of the system, optimized to run on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4, in addition to the Nexus 7 Nexus and 10 tablets. In a recent interview to The Verge, the company claims that a large manufacturer works in two smartphones with the new system.