Is the Firefox Mobile Operating System a Droid Killer?

Mozilla’s move into the mobile OS market makes it less of an ally and more an adversary to Google and Apple. Android dominates this market, accounting for about 78 percent, compared with 18 percent for second-place Apple’s iOS, according to market researcher IDC.

But neither was designed specifically for the lower-tech smartphones that mobile carriers are trying to sell in developing markets. By simplifying data management and cutting energy use, Firefox OS aims to attract people with less money and unpredictable access to networks and electricity.

Its influence is beginning to spread: Telefónica began rolling out Firefox phones in Spain and seven Latin American countries in 2013; Deutsche Telekom now sells them in Poland, Greece, Hungary, and Germany and will add Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and the Czech Republic in 2014.

In May, Carlos Slim’s América Móvil unveiled its own line in Mexico, and in June Mozilla said that within a few months Firefox phones will be on sale in India for $25.

Mozilla’s alternative isn’t likely to win over iOS and Android phone users in the US or Japan, who aren’t counting pennies on devices or data plans. But it could pose a serious threat to Apple and especially Google in the emerging markets where most sales growth lies.

For carriers, independence from those companies means they don’t have to negotiate subsidies or software license agreements. It also gives them more flexibility to modify handsets; Deutsche Telekom added privacy protections that its European customers want. And Firefox doesn’t burden carriers’ networks by sending back user data to the OS maker’s home servers for analysis or sale.