ZTE bringing phones running Mozilla OS to Europe

By AJ Dellinger January 9, 2013

Image used with permission by copyright holder

2012 saw the continued success of Apple and the significant rise of Android. 2013, it appears, will be the year of the Davids as they come to take down the Goliaths. One of the leaders of the alternative operating system movement is Mozilla, and its new mobile OS will have a happy home in the European zone. ZTE, the second-biggest phone equipment maker in China, has agreed to introduce a smartphone based around Mozilla’s software before the end of the year.

ZTE is looking to European wireless carriers to strike up a deal that will bring a Mozilla-powered phone to market in part of an effort to shrink the market share currently held by Android. While starting in Europe, expansion isn’t out of the question before year’s end. ZTE’s CEO Cheng Lixin stated, “If that is ready and if consumer studies support that data, then we may launch one in U.S. also this year,” during an interview at CES this week.

Deutsche Telekom, along with Sprint and Telephonica, has been working with Mozilla to start a line of cheaper smartphones built on the open OS. While part of a bigger movement, including a possible Linux-powered mobile OS and Samsung’s home-built Tizen OS, it looks as though Mozilla will have the jump and could claim the early share of the alternative market. According to a Strategy Analytics report cited by Bloomberg, Mozilla and ZTE could snag one percent of the mobile market in 2013.

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AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…

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