Sony Developing Firefox OS Devices, Aiming For 2014 Launch
Feb 25, 2013 04:49 PM EDT by 
We’ve heard a lot about Mozilla’s upcoming Firefox OS, but now another company has come forward as an official hardware partner: Sony. According to The Verge, Sony announced that its engineers are developing hardware that will run the new mobile operating system based on Mozilla’s popular Web browser.
Sony hopes to bring these devices to market in 2014, the report says. The news came as a joint announcement between Sony Mobile and wireless carrier Telefonica, and the two companies have just signed into a multi-year agreement. This contract creates “a joint technical collaboration to explore the development of a handset running Mozilla’s Firefox OS open source mobile platform” in addition to locking in support for Sony’s Android gadgets.
“Our engineers are now working with Firefox OS mobile and HTML5, evolving technologies which show great potential,” Sony executive Bob Ishida said, according to The Verge.
Mozilla has already partnered up with manufacturers such as ZTE, Huawei and Alcatel to bring its forthcoming software to the market, and Sony’s partnership is sure to boost its presence within the United States.
We had the chance to play with the software in our Firefox OS hands-on during Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, finding that Mozilla has loaded its software unique features and apps. For example, Firefox will include a search function that lets users search for information within apps and on the Web at the same time. It will also come equipped with Firefox’s Web browser and Mozilla’s own Firefox Marketplace app store built in.
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February 25th, 2013 at 5:34 pm
The question I have is why bring yet another Mobile OS to the market. Blackberry 10 and Windows Mobile are struggling for 3rd place and many believe their ecosystems to be too sparse to gain any real traction.
Then there is the Ubuntu OS which I guess tech enthusiasts might support and use. But why is Sony taking the risk on an whole new Mobile OS with no apps?