Looks like Opera might finally have something to be worried about in the mobile browser space. With the forever delayed Firefox mobile browser nearing release, Mozilla’s head of engineering, Christian Sejersen, has been letting fly some choice remarks.
Somebody needs to come in from the side and give everybody a kick. I think the iPhone has done it … but I still think there’s more than can be done to make [browsing] easier.
Now if that ain’t fighting talk, we don’t know what is. One thing is for sure, Mozilla is really going to have to deliver something special to justify the wait for a mobile browser. Happily, it looks as though the company has every intention of shipping something that dazzles and has been working closely with ARM and Intel to get the browser running nice and smoothly on their chips. The wait is almost over folks.
(Via Unwired View)
The Mozilla Foundation is continuing its fine work to bring the Firefox web browser to Windows Mobile (and Symbian too? Please? Pretty please?).
While we wait (and while SkyFire plots to steal its thunder) details are starting to emerge via the Mozilla project wiki that reveal a little more about what we can expect.
Firefox Mobile will come in two flavours - one for phones with a touch screen and one for those without. The touch screen UI will be optimised for finger-tapping rather than stylus while the non-touch screen version will use a ‘virtual mouse cursor’ operated by the D-pad.
From the wiki, it’s clear that Mozilla are putting a lot of thought into how to make Firefox as usable as possible on a portable device. Among the ideas being considered are a ‘magnifying glass’ zoom function, soft keyboard and an unobtrusive way of displaying tabbed pages.
The browser is set to launch later this year. We’ll keep you posted on further developments and wild rumours.
