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Mozilla’s New Interim CEO Announced – Could He Be The Permanent One?

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chris beard mozilla ceoAfter the controversies involving Mozilla’s previous CEO Brendan Eich regarding his anti-gay marriage political views, Mozilla’s new CEO was announced: his name is Chris Beard and he will be chief executive officer replacing the former CEO who resigned after donating money to an anti-gay marriage support group. Brendan Eich only lasted in his position for about two weeks.

Mozilla’s new interim CEO Chris Beard has been an executive in residence at Greylock Partners which is a venture firm and he was also marketing chief for Mozilla. Beard has been involved with Mozilla since Firefox was created.

Mitchell Baker, the executive chairwoman for Mozilla said praised Beard saying that he has a very clear vision of how to take Mozilla’s vision further and turn it into programs and products. Baker also said that the election of the new CEO comes right in the middle of an unexpected leadership transition at Mozilla.

Baker wrote that “Chris has been a Mozillian longer than most. He’s been actively involved with Mozilla since before we shipped Firefox 1.0, he’s guided and directed many of our innovative projects, and his vision and sense of Mozilla is equal to anyone’s. In this time of transition there is no better person to lead us. Chris has one of the clearest visions of how to take the Mozilla mission and turn it into programs and activities and product ideas that I have ever seen.”

Chris Beard is also a serious candidate to become the permanent CEO for Mozilla. Beard has been working for Mozilla for many years and had important leadership roles dealing with new products, marketing and innovation and has been part of two major Mozilla products: Firefox for Android and the operating system Firefox OS. Beard also handled the launch of Firefox 1.0 back in 2004.

Mozilla’s new interim CEO – the beginning of a new chapter

Beard’s appointment on Monday signals the fact that Mozilla is trying to close a difficult chapter for their organization after the previous CEO resigned due to the controversies with the anti-gay marriage issues.

Mozilla employees are also eager to start a new chapter and seemed very pleased with the decision to make Chris Beard the new interim CEO, greeting him on their Twitter accounts.

Mozilla’s new interim CEO was also very happy about his new position and twitted that he was “Excited to step in as interim CEO to continue shaping the future of the Web for public good.”

 

ZTE to Sell Low-Cost Firefox OS powered Smartphone In The UK And US

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ZTE has announced that they are releasing their first smartphone that will use the Firefox operating system. The launch will include sales on all eBay stores which will see people bid for a number of phones. The phone has an orange plate and it will cost about $79.99. The phone will be unlocked in the United States.

The company, Mozilla, says that the phones will be unlocked allowing developers to create applications that can be used on the Firefox OS. The company wants to create applications that people love, and bring the web as a platform for innovation. The low-cost ZTE will ensure that more people can access a good Smartphone. This will bring the web to more people especially those who cannot afford the mainstream Smartphones.

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The New ZTE Smart phone has a 3.5-inch screen, and processor from Qualcomm that has the capacity of 1 GHz. It has a 3.2 Megapixel camera that faces the back. The phone can access Wi-Fi and an A-GPS.  The ZTE also has 256 MB RAM, and has 512MB of integrated storage. The phone will have integrated applications to access Facebook and Twitter.

The phone can also use HERE maps from Nokia. Firefox has put a mobile browser and a MarketPlace in the phone. The ZTE is not the only phone that will use this operating system, as LG and Huawei Technologies say that they will produce phones that use the operating system as well.

The applications that the phone will come with include The Weather Channel, CNNMonday, Time, Huffington post, eBay, amongst many others. The makers say that these applications will enable the phone user to be closer to the news, and keep the informed. This will give advanced technology to people who may have never owned a Smartphone. The company executives say that the phone was created specifically for first-time Smartphone users. This is the reason why it is being launched at such a low cost. The phones will also sell in the UK for £59.99.

The phone, although set to be launched in the UK and US, has already been launched in Spain, Colombia and Venezuela. The company will not sell the phone to Mobile Carriers in the US. The phone will battle with Alcaltel’s One Touch Fire which the manufacturer Deutsche Telekom has sold in a number of countries including Poland. The phone performs just as well as any Android or iOS phone. The phone is bound to get popular especially in developing countries where spending a small fortune on a phone is not possible for most people.

Application developers will have a great time making app for the Smartphone. People who were not familiar with creating application for Android and iOS can now get in on the relative easy task of making applications using HTML5. The applications bundled into the phone are made in HTML5 and there are a great proportion of people who know how to develop using this writing language. The phone is well suited for the emerging markets countries.

World’s First Firefox OS Smartphone, ZTE Open To Go On Sale Tomorrow in Spain For $90

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In what can be described as the first commercial launch of a smartphone based on the new Firefox mobile operating system, the ZTE Open is all set to go on sale in Spain from tomorrow. Network operator Telefonica will be lending the carrier support to the ZTE Open which has been priced at an extremely affordable 69 Euros. This translates to about $90 USD only. However, if the price is cheap, there is a good reason for it too. For the device sports specification that can be considered just about decent.

FireFox OS Phone
Upfront, it will be a 3.5 inch HVGA display having a resolution of only 480 x 320 pixels. The smartphone comes with just 256 MB of RAM along with 512 MB of internal memory. That sure is paltry going by recent standards and thankfully, there is a micro SD card slot for users to bump up their memory when needed. The network operator too is offering a 4 GB memory card as part of the package to sweeten the deal. Other features of the ZTE Open include Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, aGPS, accelerometer, ambient light sensor and so on. Powering the device will be a 1200mAH battery pack. The device also includes a 3.2 mp fixed focus camera integrated at the rear. The device though is quite handy, sporting external dimensions of 114 x 62 x 12.5mm.

The deal will be inclusive of a 30 euros worth of pre-paid balance with each set. Users will also have the option to avail of contracts priced as cheap as just 2.38 euros per month. Meanwhile, Telefonica has also stated they intend to launch the ZTE Open in Venezuela and Columbia in the coming weeks.

Firefox OS Tablet to be Released by Mozilla, Foxconn

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Rumors have it that Mozilla has teamed up with Taiwan based Foxconn to manufacture a new tablet that will be powered with Firefox OS. In fact, both companies have sent out press invitation for the press event that will be held on 3rd June.

The invitation only talks about a new yet unknown device. So, it’s not confirmed whether it is going to be a smartphone, phablet or tablet. However, a reliable source has told Focus Taiwan that device which Mozilla and Foxconn are talking about is a tablet PC. In the recent past, there were a lot of rumors about Mozilla that it was working on producing a tablet running on Firefox operating system. In the past months, Mozilla had unveiled two low-priced smartphones.

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The sale of the two smartphones namely Keon and Peak were carried by a Spanish firm called Geeksphone. Both the phones were aimed at developers for building new apps that can work seamlessly on the new Firefox OS. The phones are yet to hit the US markets and the performance of both the phones will mean a lot to Mozilla. The nonprofit organization, Mozilla aims to gain a foothold in the US markets through these phones.

Even though Firefox OS is in its initial stages, it has acquired support from various across the globe such as Deutsche Telekom, China Unicomm and America Movil. When the Mobile Congress event was held in February, at that time Mozilla had claimed that they will be approaching 18 cellular service providers and 4 mobile phone manufacturers. Till now, it has managed to work with LG Electronics, Alcatel, Huawei and ZTE for manufacturing Firefox OS powered devices.

The cellular network providers that Mozilla has partnered with are lesser known providers in US. Firefox aims to manufacture budget phones to sell in budget-conscious areas. Mozilla is very popular for its Firefox internet browser. At the moment, Firefox is very little compared to giants like Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. It will take quite some time for the operating system to take upon big ones in the market.

The Firefox internet browser is not supported on iOS and even on Android, it is not the default internet browser. So, it makes sense for Mozilla to plunge into manufacturing its own devices by teaming up with other makers. In future, Mozilla aims to partner with well-known carries which will definitely help in popularizing the Firefox OS.

Tech enthusiasts are quite curious about the new device (may be a tablet) from Mozilla that is going to be unveiled on 6th June. We will have to wait for the press event to unfold to know more about the mysterious device running on Firefox.

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