NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Mozilla is learning that making smartphones dirt cheap doesn’t guarantee success when you’re running up against Google’s Android operating system. CNET reports that in an email to employees sent out on Thursday, CEO Chris Beard made it clear that the company will soon be changing its mobile strategy. “We have not seen sufficient traction for a $25 phone,” Beard wrote. He went on to say, “We will focus on efforts that provide a better user experience, rather than focusing on cost alone.”

That’s not to say that Mozilla will exclusively be targeting the high-end iPhone and Android flagship market. The company seems determined to produce enticing options across a broad range of prices, and more Mozilla employees will likely be asked to help gauge just how Firefox OS phones stack up against an endless sea of Android competition. “While we won’t be able to live and breathe on each and every target device for our core product and technology, we can on phones that are powerful enough for each of us to make our primary phone,” Beard wrote. His email even mentions that Mozilla will continue to explore developing featurephones — presumably employees won’t be forced to carry those around.