Firefox powered smartphones coming to Sprint in 2013....

[marioc21]

I don't know why Mozilla thinks they can make a competing platform, but they've gotten Sprint and others to buy in. Phones won't be available until 2013. I can't see this having any success.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/telecoms-firefox-idUSL6E8I24MG20120702?feedType=RSS&feedName=marketsNews&rpc=43

[shaunm82]

Yeah, I think Windows phone, by then will have had already grabbed the distant 3rd in the mobile OS market.

[4GHoward]

Are there any news about the Facebook Smartphone?

[pyroscott]

This platform should be huge with prepaid and could scoop up a lot of the low end of the smartphone market. iOS, Android, WP Blackberry, webOS etc are all ultimately aimed at the high end of the market. If that article is correct, this platform could gain traction in the free subsidized postpaid market and the prepaid market and take off. That market is one of the reasons for Android's huge market share.

 

Of course, as soon as Apple sees this platform as any kind of conpetition, they will claim it infringes on iOS and ban their sale/import.

[marioc21]

This platform should be huge with prepaid and could scoop up a lot of the low end of the smartphone market. iOS, Android, WP Blackberry, webOS etc are all ultimately aimed at the high end of the market. If that article is correct, this platform could gain traction in the free subsidized postpaid market and the prepaid market and take off. That market is one of the reasons for Android's huge market share.

 

Of course, as soon as Apple sees this platform as any kind of conpetition, they will claim it infringes on iOS and ban their sale/import.

 

But there are already tons of android phones you can get at the nearly free or free with contract price point. You might have a point about the prepaid market. Although, it looks like Sprint is trying to take the prepaid market uptown with Virgin. Maybe this could fit into their boost lineup.

 

I got great laugh when you listed WebOS on there. That's funny.

[pyroscott]

But there are already tons of android phones you can get at the nearly free or free with contract price point. You might have a point about the prepaid market. Although, it looks like Sprint is trying to take the prepaid market uptown with Virgin. Maybe this could fit into their boost lineup.

 

I got great laugh when you listed WebOS on there. That's funny.

 

I chuckled a bit when I wrote it. The article stated that they thought they could sell a firefox smartphone for $50. That would go a long way towards pushing dumb phones into extinction.

[marioc21]

I chuckled a bit when I wrote it. The article stated that they thought they could build a phone for $50. I'm not sure if that is retail price or manufacturing price, but that would go a long way towards pushing dumb phones into extinction.

 

I laught at WebOS, but I was there at 6am on launch day to buy my Pre. It was the best phone I'd ever owned up to that point. It wasn't until about 3 months in and 7 pres later that I realized that this was not going to work. Thankfully, I was a premiere member then so I got to upgrade at the 12 month mark. Still, if only they'd have had the money to put WebOS on quality hardware from the start.

[pyroscott]

I laught at WebOS, but I was there at 6am on launch day to buy my Pre. It was the best phone I'd ever owned up to that point. It wasn't until about 3 months in and 7 pres later that I realized that this was not going to work. Thankfully, I was a premiere member then so I got to upgrade at the 12 month mark. Still, if only they'd have had the money to put WebOS on quality hardware from the start.

 

I nearly bought the Pre. I opted for the HTC Zero, which I suffered through for 2 years before I could upgrade. I really wish I would have waited for the Evo... I went through a few warranty replacements too. I guess it was that whole early adopter curse. The reason I went Zero instead of Pre was that I could have cared less about the keyboard. My giant fingers would just mash the keys of any keyboard, physical or on-screen anyway...