Mozilla looks to be preparing to launch a beta version of its mobile Firefox web browser, codenamed Fennec, on the HTC Touch Pro, as early as next week.
"We are targeting a Milestone release for the first week of February, targeting the HTC Touch Pro," said a blog post on Mozilla's official mobile Firefox wiki. The news is sure to stir excitement in the Windows Mobile developer community, who could look to port the browser to other WinMo-based hardware. The introduction of Firefox on mobile phones would add another dimension to the already hot debate surrounding the importance of software over hardware, and the need to include developers in expanding a mobile platform.
In December, Christian Sejersen, Mozilla's director of mobile engineering, said the company would look to offer the platform on Symbian-based phones.
"In Q3 2008 Symbian had 49.8 percent of the total smartphone sales (and 57 percent in Q2) according to Gartner compared to 11.1 percent for Windows Mobile and 7.2 percent for Linux," he said. "So in order for Mozilla to be relevant in the smartphone space we need to have a presence on the Symbian platform."
Sejersen outlined a development plan for Fennec going into 2009. Fennec compiling and linking should be complete by the end of January; basic browsing should be possible by the end of February; full browsing by the end of April and initial testing and product development at some later date.
For more:
-see this Mozilla blog post
-see these blog posts
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