14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla announced a few months ago that it would not release any Firefox smartphones in the future, but it would continue to support the OS for a while.
Today, the company confirmed that it would discontinue Firefox OS development for smartphones after release 2.6, “We will end development on Firefox OS for smartphones after the version 2.6 release.”
But that's not all, as Mozilla also revealed that beginning March 29 Marketplace would no longer accept submissions for Android, Desktop and Tablet.
Also, Mozilla will remove all apps that don't support Firefox OS. Surprisingly, Firefox OS compatible apps will continue to be accepted into 2017 since the company has yet to set up a date for when they will stop accepting these apps in the Marketplace.
According to Mozilla, the decisions made today are substantial, and the main reason they have been taken is to ensure the company can focus all its resources on “bringing the power of the web to IoT.”
No support for Firefox OS after May
Mozilla also highlights the fact that its Firefox OS didn't gain too many followers since there was no room for another platform for the budget-friendly tier.
“... as we announced in December, the circumstances of multiple established operating systems and app ecosystems meant that we were playing catch-up, and the conditions were not there for Mozilla to win on commercial smartphones,” explains Mozilla.
Going forward, Mozilla reiterates its support towards IoT and promises to make a greater impact on this area in the next couple of years.
“We have decided that in order to succeed in the new area of Connected Devices we must focus our energy completely on prototyping the future and exploring how we can make the biggest impact in IoT.”
The bottom line is that after the Firefox OS 2.6, which will be released sometime in May, smartphones powered by this version of the platform will no longer have staff involvement.