In an interview with Irish tech site Silicon Republic, Christian Sejersen, mobile director of engineering for Mozilla, has stated something which may crush the hopes and dreams of many: Firefox Mobile is not headed to the iPhone or the Android platform anytime in the foreseeable future.
The first part isn’t too surprising; it has been said by other members of the Mozilla team that it was a no go, as Apple’s licensing just wouldn’t allow it. That latter part, however, is a huge upset.
Much of Firefox’s success can be contributed to its geek following. At its conception, they were the folks being the most vocal about the product, telling friends and family, putting Firefox badges on their blogs, and convincing their local schools to install it. These are the people who are always scrutinizing what’s currently available, wondering “What’s next?” – the exact same crowd who will be tinkering with, and potentially advocating, Android.
So if not the iPhone or Android, where is Mobile Firefox headed? The Linux-based Nokia N810 internet tablet, at first. From there, it’ll make its way to both Windows Mobile Pro (touchscreen) and Standard (non-touchscreen). A bit of Google searching turns up this page, which further solidifies things: Currently, only Linux (GTK), Windows Mobile 6, and QT 4.4 are listed as goal platforms.
On the upside, Sejersen does verify that Firefox Mobile will have plug-in support, leaving the door open for mobile versions of the hundreds of extensions available for Firefox — and of course, Adobe Flash.