Mobile Royal Rumble: Mozilla and LG Enter the Ring vs. Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft

At the upcoming Mobile World Congress, Mozilla is preparing to unveil the Mozilla Marketplace, where developers can submit their own HTML5, JavaScript, or CSS based apps.  This move not only helps Mozilla keep up with Google Chrome in the web browser war, but perhaps more importantly, it will build a library of apps for Mozilla's Boot to Gecko (B2G), the smartphone and tablet OS that will also utilize the Marketplace.

Mozilla believes that the web can displace proprietary, single-vendor stacks for application development. To make open web technologies a better basis for future applications on mobile and desktop alike, we need to keep pushing the envelope of the web to include --- and in places exceed --- the capabilities of the competing stacks in question.

-- Mozilla

There's still work to be done before B2G is ready for market.  Namely:

• New Web APIs: build protoype APIs for exposing device and OS capabilities to content (Telephony, SMS, Camera, USB, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.)
• Privelege Model: making sure that these new capabilities are safely exposed to pages and applications 
• Booting: prototype a low-level substrate for mobile devices (phones and tablets)
• Applciations: choose and port or build apps to prove out and prioritize the power of the system

-- Mozilla

 

As if things couldn't get any bigger than Mozilla entering the Mobile OS market, rumors are spreading that they have teamed up with LG to produce a "developer-oriented" mobile device, with the intention of getting developers on board before release.  Of course, it's important to note that this information has not been confirmed, but with MWC just a couple days away, we should all know soon.

Fanning the flames just a little more, Brendan Eich, JavaScript creator and CTO at Mozilla, tweeted this recently:



So, the anticipation builds!  Personally, I can't wait to see what comes out of MWC, so stay tuned for more updates soon to come.