Mozilla’s New Mobile Browser
Posted on | November 11, 2008 | No Comments
- by Rashidi Barnett
So over at Androidguys, post in regards to Fennec, Mozilla’s new mobile browser, not being available for development on Android phones. I had missed this news today, but I have some thoughts on this.
If I’m understanding correctly, this potentially falls in line with my thoughts on the Browser as a Platform (BaaP). A mobile device that is less dependent on an OS, and more dependent on the browser would definitely lead to brisk innovation if developers only need to consider the browser and not the device that is running on. As long as a user can download a new browser to their phone, they can easily take advantage of the applications/add-ons for their phone. Its almost like the iPhone OS, or Android, but without being dependent on the manufacturer or wireless providers to take the product to market. It becomes device and wireless carrier agnostic. Which would quickly allow it be on already existing phones, so it has a low barrier to entry. Its still earlier to say exactly how this will pan out, but its definitely something to keep an eye on. I’m sure there is something that I’m missing, but I’ll continue to follow and read up to see how this potentially impacts the mobile industry.
In their own words, “Fennec will bring a true Web experience to mobile phones and other non-PC devices, yet take advantage of the specific opportunities for new and useful user experiences enabled by mobility and telephony. Fennec will do what users need out of the box, enabling access to their favorite content and rich internet applications. It will integrate smoothly with device features, including easy initiation of phone calls from Web pages, access to local search, maps and directions.”
Additional Key Highlights:
- We need to pay close attention to very basic operations that are still hard to accomplish on most mobile phones, like entering URLs, managing bookmarks, providing an equivalent to multiple windows/tabs, designing zooming and scrolling to achieve readability; we will need to question assumptions about how people use the Web when they’re on the go, and not view the UI as a “port” of desktop Firefox.
- Fennec will provide access to the “full” Web, including rich internet applications developed using AJAX. Web content developers should be able to optimize to smaller screen sizes, etc., but not be required to adopt alternate technologies.
- A key strength of Firefox is its support for third-party innovation through full support for rich internet applications and for Add-ons. By providing full support for JavaScript, AJAX, offline storage and other key ingredients of RIAs, as well as JavaScript access to native phone features, Fennec will enable a whole new wave of mobile application development. Fennec will support Add-ons as well, so that the mobile browsing experience can be augmented and improved by anyone.
- We can improve the usefulness of Fennec for each desktop Firefox user, especially if we adopt an online “bridge” to enable a mobile user to easily access bookmarks, history, form-fill data, and other browser metadata from his desktop PC.
So what’s a Fennec – here it is. They’re doing a good job of keeping with the “Fox” theme with their browsers.
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