Firefox’s official debut on mobile is mere “days away”, according to Jay Sullivan at Mozilla. If you’ve been following the string of betas for Windows Mobile and Maemo 5, and the rumours of Android and iPhone apps, you’ll know what Fennec is all about. The status of the latter two have changed a bit, especially the iPhone version. Sullivan says "Apple is very restrictive. It doesn’t allow other browsers… As it’s a pretty closed platform we don’t see that happening soon." Conversely, it sounds like work on the Android version is well underway.
Sure, security and usability rank high on the browser’s priorities, but the big feature in mobile Firefox is add-ons – plug-ins that customize and tweak the internet browsing experience to meet your particular needs. Add-ons are what made desktop Firefox the success it is today and precisely what is giving Internet Explorer a run for its money. Cruising through some of the add-ons currently available for the N900, Mozilla is pushing Weave pretty aggressively; it’s a lot like Opera Link, in that it syncs bookmarks, history and passwords between desktop and mobile, but Firefox has the decided advantage in that it actually has a desktop following. As great as add-ons are, tabbed browsing, the Awesome Bar (which somehow figures out what you’re looking for, no matter what you type into it), and the promise of deep geo-location functions are all things to look forward to from Firefox mobile in the (hopefully) near future. The public release for the N900 is first up, with other platforms to follow – keep an eye on the official mobile Firefox page to see what’s up.
[via BBC]