14 DAY TRIAL // As expected and hoped by many mobile users, the Firefox browser will become mobile pretty soon, according to Christian Sejersen of Mozilla, who posted on his blog information about Mozilla Corporation's plans. Sure, there have been statements from Mozilla about its mobile future, but now we know a thing for certain: Firefox will first become available for Windows Mobile devices, with other mobile platforms to follow.
There is no word about an official release date, or any other date for that matter, but the intentions are clear: to optimize the open-source browser engine for mobiles in order to offer Firefox's security and usability to the global mobile community. Before working on the version for Windows Mobile though, Mozilla will concentrate on developing its Linux version, already running on the Nokia N800 Internet tablet.
Christian Sejersen, who works to bring Mozilla to handsets, also mentions a Symbian version of the browser and, considering the high number of Symbian users, we will probably see this somewhere in the future. I think Palm and Blackberry should not be forgotten (if it's not too difficult to port Firefox for these operating systems), because there might be many Mozilla fans who want the browser on these handsets.
We all know that Opera Mini, available for basically any mobile device, is the most used and acclaimed mobile browser in the world. Now, with the announced release of Mozilla Mobile, Opera might lose an important share of its fans, as there must be many users who are devoted to Firefox when it comes to PCs or laptops but use Opera Mini on their handsets just because Mozilla isn't available. And since we mentioned desktops and laptops, the browser battle between Opera and Mozilla has already been running for some years, although "battle" is not quite a proper word to use since Mozilla crushes Opera in terms of desktop popularity.
All we can do now is wait for the official release of Mozilla for Windows Mobile and see how Opera Mini's success will be affected.