Firefox OS developers phones sell out in hours, struggle to meet demand

By Andrew Kalinchuk April 23, 2013

Firefox OS — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A few hours after officially going on sale, the first batch of Firefox OS developer phones are listed as “Out of stock.”

Geeksphone, a smartphone manufacturer based in Madrid, started selling the first developer devices this morning: the Keon for $119 and Peak for $194. It may not have been expected, with Firefox OS’s decidedly average hardware and fledgling software, but a representative from Geeksphone told TechCrunch that demand has been “tremendous so far.” How tremendous? Well, TheNextWeb reported yesterday that Geeksphone could handle the sale of about 5,000 devices each day so sales must have surpassed that mark and then some.

Keon and Peak are basically preview devices, meant to gain interest with developers and allow for time to play around with the operating system, try out new features, and assess its capabilities before Firefox OS see a wider release to the public. June is the expected month for that to happen with Firefox devices hitting Spain, Brazil, Portugal, and Venezuela off the get-go. We aren’t expecting Firefox’s devices to usurp the Apples and Androids of the world, but they seem poised for a mid-market takeover.

The Keon retails for $119 unlocked (believe it). It features 3G and EDGE connectivity, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3.5-inch HVGA screen, and a 3-megapixel camera. The RAM comes in at 512MB with 4GB internal storage and a microSD slot if you need it. The $194 Peak, on the other hand, is a bit more powerful. It won’t match up to something like the HTC One, but it’s no slouch. A 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 powers a 4.3-inch qHD IPS display, 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 2-megapixel shooter up front. It’s also outfitted with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of onboard storage, and microSD.

It’s difficult to judge the platform’s long-term success on these numbers alone as it hasn’t seen a public release yet. Most of these sales are being made to an interested and enthusiastic group of developers, which definitely skews the devices’ sold out status. As well, compared to bigger name manufacturers, the Keon and Peak are being produced in relatively small numbers. Still, Geeksphone must be feeling pretty good right now.

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Andrew Kalinchuk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Andrew covers news and opinions pertaining to smartphones, tablets, and all else mobile for Digital Trends. He recently…

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