Sony becomes the fifth company to commit to Firefox OS behind ZTE, Alcatel, LG and Huawei. Sony today announced it too wants a piece of the HTML5 pie, committing to launching a Firefox OS device in 2014.
The news comes as part of the announcement about Telefonica offering Sony’s Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z in select markets around the world. The two mobile companies will also be working together to explore the development of a handset running Firefox OS.
Sony has a long history as far as working with different mobile OSes is concerned. First it ditched its own mobile operating system, then Nokia’s Symbian platform while it was part of Sony Ericsson. Finally, Sony settled down on Android. Despite continued calls for Sony to release a Windows Phone handset, it appears the company is more focused on growing its user base in emerging markets, by developing completely open and affordable devices with little or no restrictions on usage or apps.
Bob Ishida, Deputy CEO at Sony, says that the company’s engineers are working with Firefox OS and HTML5, along with operator partners, with the aim to release a device or devices sometime next year.
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