Firefox OS Overview
Résumé
Firefox OS is an operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. It is developed by Mozilla but it aims to be free from any proprietary technology. It lets users run applications developed entirely using web technologies, like HTML5, JavaScript, CSS. It is not directly competing with iOS. It has some common target markets with Android. For now Firefox OS targets specific type of clients - people that don't have smartphones yet. Available devices are low-end and as a result prices of Firefox OS phones are low. Firefox OS is aimed to be free from a proprietary technology so, as an effect, flexible and open. There should be no more device or vendor fragmentation. All apps are supposed to be built once and run everywhere. It is possible thanks to Web Apps and Web APIs. Mozilla makes a big effort in order to standardize Web APIs, so that the device hardware could be accessed more easily. Mozilla also introduced its sign-in system for the Web. Mozilla Persona allows sign-in by using any of user's existing email addresses. Persona implements a BrowserID protocol that is a universal login system that does not require email providers to support it. Furthermore, the identity provider cannot track user's activity thanks to a certification system. Implementing persona requires very little code so it can be quickly deployed. At this point the biggest issue that Mozilla is facing is the lack of websites using their system. Mozilla also wants to redefine the way payments work for mobile applications. Firefox OS allows two types of paid content: paid applications and in-app payments. There are three important parts in the payment process: Payment Provider, Client App and App Server. They communicate with each other and use a payment token to provide all necessary information concerning the product being purchased. Mozpay,the principal part of the payment flow, was introduced in the first version of Firefox OS. Recently mozpay was proposed to be depreciated, because it made the payment process to rigid for certain payment providers. There are several solutions like PayPal, Google Wallet or Stripe that can be easily added to the web content by injecting JavaScript into web pages. The new solution is to securely expose Payment Provider primitives that websites can use to implement mobile payments. The subject is still under discussion. Firefox OS is still in the early phase. Different features and functionalities keep changing. The existing applications are not all working smoothly yet but the marketplace keeps growing. So far Firefox OS was launched in several countries like Spain and Poland. There are other carriers that will start selling it in other countries sometime soon. The opinions about Firefox OS are divided. So far all sold devices are low-end so they are targeting a certain type of clients, users that are not very emanding. As a result it is difficult to clearly evaluate this system or to compare it to existing technologies. The future of Firefox OS is still unsure. Although thanks to growing interest in Web Apps and Web APIs and cooperating with other companies and mobile carrier the system may become successful.
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