In a dogfight for market-share reminiscent of VHS vs. Beta Max and more recently, Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, mobile programming and the app-market has essentially come down to a two-horse race: iOS and Android.
In an attempt to lessen mobile fragmentation, the free-internet outfit Mozilla is now backing the latter, having announced plans to create a cell phone OS based on Android, meaning the company is axing their former mobile platform: Gecko.
The OS, called B2G, will be a standards-based, open-source platform, which Mozilla plans to publish code for during development, so as to open itself to developer feedback. But Mozilla isn’t backing Android too heavily, opting to let the Android network merely serve as the basis of the code for the OS, while adding a unique UI and an application stack taken from Gecko. In a surprise move, Mozilla has stated it won’t support native code programming.
As for Mozilla’s Open Web, Android-based cell phone prototype, the Seabird, no word yet as to whether the new OS and hardware will be a simultaneous endeavor for Mozilla.
[via Gizmodo]
