Mozilla is working with local developers to boost the number of apps available for devices running its Firefox OS in different markets, according to the company’s COO, Li Gong.
Speaking to Mobile World Live, Gong said the company’s worldwide community means “we have lots of people that love the Firefox brand and they contribute — we have grassroots movement everywhere”.
“So for every country we launch, we actually use the community there to help us localise the product and also energise the local app developers to develop apps that they would like to use on our platform,” he explained.
As well as engaging with the community in general, Mozilla is targeting the makers of the top 100 apps globally and the top 50 developers in each country where smartphones using its platform are launched.
As of February, Firefox devices had gone on sale in 15 markets through four operator groups, with handsets from three manufacturers.
Telefonica is set to launch devices powered by the platform in eight more markets in 2014, including Germany and a number of Latin American markets, while Deutsche Telekom will add four, in southern and eastern Europe.
Indonesia’s Telkomsel and Indosat announced their support of Firefox OS at Mobile World Congress, while Taiwan’s largest operator Chungwa Telecom did the same at Mobile Asia Expo last month, taking the number of operators supporting the technology to 22.
More devices were announced in February, including the ZTE Open C and Open II, along with the Alcatel OneTouch trio of devices powered by the platform – the entry-level Fire C and higher-spec Fire E and Fire S.
Mobile Asia Expo also saw Mozilla announce partnerships with Intex and Spice for the Indian OEMs to build smartphones using the platform.
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