There’s an awful lot of Android news at MWC day 0, but Mozilla has made sure that it’s not all Android, all the time by announcing some Firefox OS news.
Mozilla pinged us today to say that its partnering with KDDI, LG U+, Telefonica, and Verizon Wireless to launch new Firefox OS phones in a variety of form factors that include flip phones, sliders, and slates. These new phones will begin to hit the market in 2016.
Meanwhile, mobile operator Orange has revealed that it’ll launch a Firefox OS device in 13 new markets. The Orange Klif, which is manufactured by Alcatel Onetouch, is a touchscreen smartphone with a 2-megapixel camera, microSD card slot, dual SIM support, and HSPA connectivity up to 21Mbps. The Klif will also be the first Firefox OS phone to be powered by a MediaTek processor.
Mozilla says that the Orange Klif will launch in Q2 2015 in Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Botswana, Madagascar, Mali, The Ivory Coast, Jordan, Niger, Kenya, Mauritius, and Vanuatu. Pricing for the Klif will be set at €35 ($40 USD) and will include the device as well as data, voice, and texts.
Mozilla also revealed some details on upcoming versions of Firefox OS. Ol’ Mo’ says that future versions of its mobile operating system will boast features like multi-core processor support, enhanced privacy, added support for WebRTC, right-to-left language support, and an NFC payments infrastructure.
With the addition of these new carrier partners and hardware, Mozilla says that Firefox OS will be available in more than 40 markets on 17 smartphones. That’s big for its platform, and the news that Firefox OS will be on sliders and flip phones could help build even more interest in the OS since those aren’t form factors that we see a lot of in the modern smartphone market.
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