In this cloud connected social world, still using the old featured phones? May be its time to move on to a smarter device that will cost as cheap as your featured phone. Mozilla has partnered with Indian mobile vendors Intex and Spice to bring its Firefox OS based smartphones to India that could be priced as low as Rs 1,500.
Earlier Mozilla revealed low-cost smartphones priced at $60 in Europe and Latin America that have a hardware specification like 3.5 inch display, Snapdragon processor, 4GB internal storage and common connectivity options like 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
For India Mozilla plans to further reduce the cost of devices and bring it to the ultra-low-cost category. A category which is not fully poised by the Android domination. This devices will probably use Spreadtrum chipsets and may include dual SIM capability, 3G, WiFi and bluetooth connectivity options and FM support.
“The platform will give us an edge in upgrading buyers from feature phones to smartphones while making it affordable for the mass market. This will propel our devices to be much more than a way to use the Web, but take the engagement further and develop the Web as a mobile platform.” said Mr. Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, Business Head, Mobile, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd.
“We have high expectations from this partnership as we continue to constantly push the boundaries, and bring unique and exciting products to our customers. These phones will be affordably priced to ensure everyone can enjoy and experience the power of the Firefox OS phone.” said Mr. Dilip Modi, Co-Founder & CEO of Spice.
Firefox OS if you don’t know is built entirely to open Web standards with features developed as a HTML5 application that offers great flexibility, scalability and powerful customization.
The problem with platforms is that it needs active mobile internet connection to make full use of the device functionalities. Without data connection it will remain as your old feature phone with basic phone operations. Another issue is the lack of apps on Firefox OS, you could only find a handful of apps on the Mozilla marketplace. We could expect this will change once the device comes to more and more people in different countries.