Mozilla to sell $25 Firefox OS smartphone in India, Indonesia

[Shawn Knight]

Mozilla is planning to bring an ultra inexpensive smartphone to India and Indonesia later this year. The handset, powered by Firefox OS, will retail for $25 off-contract and could serve as a viable stepping stone from a feature phone to a smartphone for those with budget constraints.

During a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mozilla Chief Operating Officer Gong Li pointed out that one US dollar means a lot of things to consumers in emerging countries. As such, it’s difficult to sell smartphones that cost more than $50 in those markets. But with a $25 phone, Li said, there is no price gap between a smartphone and a feature phone.

To build a cheaper device that’s affordable to the next billion potential smartphone buyers, Mozilla is working with Chinese chip maker Spreadtrum Communications Inc. As GigaOm notes, however, the handsets will likely only provide very basic smartphone functionality.

Things like photo sharing, e-mail, social networking apps, mapping, games and media playback should all be within the scope of the $25 device. Complex apps or those that rely heavily on a phone’s processing power, on the other hand, may never show up on a Firefox OS device.

Mozilla will likely sell a lot of smartphones at this price point in these regions but don’t expect it to be a cakewalk. Other low-cost Android partners will likely be vying for a piece of the pie by dropping the cost of their handsets to compete.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57083-mozilla-to-sell-25-firefox-os-smartphone-in-india-indonesia.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm waiting for a TS review.

 

[misor]

Does the article author mean that the firefox OS-powered smartphone can only make phone calls and nothing else?

my almost 4-yr old el cheapo Samsung galaxy y (GT-5360) running android 2.3.6 is essentially for making calls and sending texts.

I must be one of the few who use their (smart)phones for calls and SMS only.

 

[psycros]

What this article tells me is that when the new Blackberries come out the low-end model should be about $75 off contract.

 

[Scshadow]

When taking pictures of your own phone... charge it first. Its virtually meaningless sure but why give the impression your phone will have battery capacity issues.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Does the article author mean that the firefox OS-powered smartphone can only make phone calls and nothing else?

my almost 4-yr old el cheapo Samsung galaxy y (GT-5360) running android 2.3.6 is essentially for making calls and sending texts.

I must be one of the few who use their (smart)phones for calls and SMS only.

Don't feel alone, I use a Galaxy S4 for calls, SMS's and WhatsApp messages mostly. In the 6 months I've had it I used the camera only once to take 3 snaps. Oh yes I have used it for Google maps GPS directions as well.
I'm retired now so I really don't need mobility computing, all of my computing needs are done from my two desktops (one for tasks such as this and the other for gaming) and I still use brick & mortar stores to do all my purchases. I also have a Google Nexus 7 tablet and two laptops that do nothing apart from collect dust.

 

[Darkshadoe]

Does the article author mean that the firefox OS-powered smartphone can only make phone calls and nothing else?

my almost 4-yr old el cheapo Samsung galaxy y (GT-5360) running android 2.3.6 is essentially for making calls and sending texts.

I must be one of the few who use their (smart)phones for calls and SMS only.

Don't feel alone, I use a Galaxy S4 for calls, SMS's and WhatsApp messages mostly. In the 6 months I've had it I used the camera only once to take 3 snaps. Oh yes I have used it for Google maps GPS directions as well.
I'm retired now so I really don't need mobility computing, all of my computing needs are done from my two desktops (one for tasks such as this and the other for gaming) and I still use brick & mortar stores to do all my purchases. I also have a Google Nexus 7 tablet and two laptops that do nothing apart from collect dust.

I am pretty much the same way. Right now I am using a $6.99 dumbphone and this new Firefox one would be perfect for me if they keep it at the $25 price point.

 

[Guest]

"When taking pictures of your own phone... charge it first. Its virtually meaningless sure but why give the impression your phone will have battery capacity issues."


Or, it could mean the battery is badass and that the battery has 8 hours left with a sliver on the bar.

 

[Nima304]

When taking pictures of your own phone... charge it first. Its virtually meaningless sure but why give the impression your phone will have battery capacity issues.

Didn't notice that. Thanks for the laughs.

This'll be great for 3rd- and 2nd-world countries. I have family in Iran, and the only way most people can get smartphones there is to buy iPhones at $900.00+. There's a huge market for buying high-end devices in the US/UK and selling them for great returns.

 

[Razer]

Does the article author mean that the firefox OS-powered smartphone can only make phone calls and nothing else?

my almost 4-yr old el cheapo Samsung galaxy y (GT-5360) running android 2.3.6 is essentially for making calls and sending texts.

I must be one of the few who use their (smart)phones for calls and SMS only.

I thought I'm the only one using smartphone as feature phone

 

[Razer]

I live in Indonesia btw, but unfortunately I never made any review about smartphone