Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) yesterday said it is developing more than five devices, including smartphones and tablets, that run the Firefox mobile operating system in an effort to provide customers with new products powered by alternative, open-source software.
Foxconn’s comments came after it signed a memorandum of understanding with Firefox developer Mozilla Corp. Foxconn operates flagship company Hon Hai Precision Industry Ltd Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc.
“We will develop a series of devices from phones and tablets to TVs and outdoor signage, that are connected to the Internet,” Foxconn Innovation Digital System Business Group general manager Young Liu (劉揚偉) told a media briefing in Taipei.
“To cope with growing Web demand, we think we need to invest greater resources to facilitate the development of a third operating system in addition to Android and iOS [of Apple]. We need to provide a better solution for our customers,” Liu said.
Liu declined to reveal the timetable for the product launches of the new devices, saying that it would be the decision of Foxconn’s customers.
“Hon Hai will not make any branded products,” Liu said. “We hope our solution can help PC brands become more competitive in the post-PC era.”
The Firefox operating system is based on HTML5, one of the main markup languages for creating Web pages and information that can be displayed in a Web brewer.
Firefox, which has a 20 percent market share, is the second-biggest Web browser around the globe, after Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
As part of its efforts to facilitate the development of the Firefox system, Foxconn planned to hire between 500 and 1,000 engineers by the end of this year in Greater Kaohsiung to help develop the Firefox-based operating system, applications and backstage management system, which process data and documents, Liu said.
Foxconn is scheduled to set up a data center in Greater Kaohsiung by the end of the year, he added.
Mozilla senior vice president Li Gong (宮力) said 18 telecom operators and five electronics producers, including Chinese handset maker Huawei Technology (華為), Japan’s Sony and LG of South Korea have announced that they planned to develop devices running the Firefox system.
Among them, Chinese handset makers ZTE Inc (中興) and TCL, which sells handsets under the Alcatel brand, were scheduled to launch their Firefox-based devices in the summer, Gong said.
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