Mozilla has, together with a group of providers and hardware makers, established the Open Web Device Compliance Review Board (OWDRCB), a similar board as the Open Handset Alliance for Android.
The collaborative platform wants to avoid that multiple versions of Firefox OS, the alternative open source operating system for smartphones, will be developed as has happened with Android. All devices that run Firefox OS should, according to the OWDRCB, support the same functionality accross devices. The group also works on a faster release of Mozilla's operation system.
Besides Mozilla, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Qualcomm, ZTE and Sony have taken place in the OWDRCB. In charge of this new collaboration is Andreas Gal, Vice President of Engineering at Mozilla.
In The Netherlands on the Fairphone?
Smartphones with Firefox OS are at the moment not for sale in The Netherlands. Mozilla has chosen to roll out their system based on web standards first in countries where mostly lower priced smartphones are being sold. In Europe these are among others Spain and Poland. In The Netherlands, Fairphone could be a candidate. CEO Bas van Abel recently told BuzzT that Mozilla is interested in the possibility to run Firefox OS on the Fairphone, that comes standard with Android. The first Fairphone will be on the market soon.
Android is an open source operation system by Google, that keeps a strong grip on the platform by licensing its other services (like Gmail, Maps, YouTube), see this article in Wired: "Google's iron grip on Android: controlling open source by any means necessary". This makes it difficult for startup companies to offer an alternative for these services.
