Mozilla today officially announced it ends development on Firefox OS for smartphones after the release of version 2.6 later this year. According to the company it is unable to compete with established popular mobile operating systems like Android and iOS.
"As we announced in December, the circumstances of multiple established operating systems and app ecosystems meant that we were playing catch-up, and the conditions were not there for Mozilla to win on commercial smartphones", according to John Bernard of Mozilla.
Instead the company wants to focus on Connected Devices, as Bernard adds, "we have decided that in order to succeed in the new area of Connected Devices we must focus our energy completely on prototyping the future and exploring how we can make the biggest impact in IoT (Internet of Things)."
The decision means that no Mozillians will be working on Firefox OS for smartphones after May this year. That doesn't mean Firefox OS is entirely dead, the operating system is open source and the community might further develop it.
Instead the company now wants to focus on Connected Devices, according to Bernard because the company is "entering this exciting, fragmented space to ensure users have choice through interoperable, open solutions, and for us to act as their advocates for data privacy and security."
Connected Devices appears to be a wide term in this case, on the Mozilla Wiki a list of projects has been posted that ranges from a project to "help millions of farmers in Bangladesh to automate their irrigation and increase the crop yielding" to a connected heart rate monitor.
Mozilla's role in this is also a bit unclear, it would make sense if the company is working on an open standard that allows devices to securely communicate with each other.
