Following today's release of its Firefox 3 web browser, open-source development initiative Mozilla will now shift its focus to putting the finishing touches on its first Firefox mobile web browser, with a first public glimpse expected this September. Speaking to BusinessMobile.fr, Mozilla Europe president Tristan Nitot said development on the Firefox mobile edition (codenamed "Fennec") is moving ahead, with the process expected to accelerate in the weeks ahead--following September's first overview, a beta release is anticipated by year's end. While Mozilla will support operating systems including Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux, Nitot confirmed it will not develop versions for Apple's iPhone or Google's Android: "For the iPhone, Apple's license cannot install software to have an interpreted language. But Firefox includes JavaScript, which makes it legally impossible to carry on the iPhone," he writes on his blog. "For Android, Webkit is integrated into the OS, and only Java applications can run. And Firefox is not written in Java. So that's why. However, in both cases, things may change in future, but it does not depend on Mozilla."
For more on Mozilla's mobile outlook:
- read this TeByte article
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