14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Chinese mobile phone maker ZTE Corporation officially announced plans to sell its Firefox OS-based ZTE Open smartphone on eBay.
The handset will become available through the ZTE eBay US and UK stores with a price tag of $79.99 (€60) and £59.99 ($93 / €70), respectively.
Furthermore, it seems that the Orange flavor of the smartphone will be available in the United States exclusively through this portal.
“There won’t be any local apps or features because these devices are general, unlocked global variants targeted at developers and early adopters around the globe. As the devices are open market devices, they are not optimized for specific networks,” Mozilla explains.
The Firefox OS-based devices are aimed at first time smartphone users, and are powered by Web technologies. However, they can deliver appealing performance and personalization at a lower price, while also offering a beautiful, clean, intuitive and easy-to-use experience.
The Firefox OS comes with all the features and capabilities that users would expect from a smartphone, including calls, messaging, email, camera, along with built-in social integration with Facebook and Twitter, location-based services like Nokia HERE maps, and more.
“Mozilla is dedicated to moving the Web forward as a platform for innovation and building products that people love,” Li Gong, Mozilla senior VP of Mobile Devices, said.
“We are pleased that now we will put the full power of the Web in even more people’s hands. With a great potential user base, we know that even more developers around the world will create their apps with new APIs to stimulate an inspiring new wave of innovation.”
ZTE Open now enjoys global availability through eBay, which means that more users around the world can now purchase it and enjoy what it has to offer.
“It is great honor to be a partner with Mozilla and launch Firefox OS smartphones ZTE Open to worldwide markets,” Wenhong Dai, VP of ZTE Corporation, stated.
“As a well-known mobile manufacturer, ZTE is devoted to bring convenience and options to global consumers via advanced technology. It is strongly believed that this phone will bring fresh smartphone experience to users and attract more developers to learn Firefox OS and Web apps.”