Mozilla is recruiting beta testers to test Firefox for iOS prior to its release to the public.
Citing that the affordable $25 handsets are not enough to compete with the biggest powers of the smartphone world, Mozilla has overhauled its Firefox OS mobile software project, according to reports on CNET.
Mozilla rose to prominence in the wake of the success of its Firefox Web browser almost a decade ago. However, the nonprofit organization is having trouble achieving the same success with its Firefox operating system for smartphones.
The new chief executive, Chris Beard, revealed that Mozilla has replaced its strategy to a new "Ignite" initiative that focuses on phones with fascinating features and not just with ultra-affordable price tags.
But that's not all, the company is even considering letting its operating system run apps written for Google Android.
With the release of Mozilla's Firefox browser for iOS closing in, the organization is now recruiting beta testers who are willing to try the app prior to its debut on App Store. Mozilla sent a survey to potential testers asking for details about the devices they own, and also revealing that the beta will require a version of iOS 8 or higher to work.
The survey also informs testers that the beta build is expected to have some bugs and break at time, and that's exactly why Mozilla needs testing and feedback, TechCrunch noted.
Citing that Apple wouldn't allow Mozilla to use its own web engine on its platform, the company has been saying that it wouldn't release a version of Firefox for iOS. The company however changed its tune in December as it announced that it was then in the early stages of testing a browser that would offer a Firefox-like experience exclusively for iOS users.
This implies that Firefox for iOS will basically be a user interface on top of WebKit and the Nitro JavaScript engine, rather than using Mozilla's own technologies under the hood. The browser however should be able to offer several consumer-facing features such as support for Firefox accounts, bookmark-syncing tools and more.
Mozilla's move to expand Firefox to iOS comes at a time when the browser's market share has been continuously dropping as people spend more time on mobile devices, including iPads and Apple iPhones. As far as desktop is concerned, with 18.27% share, Firefox is behind IE's 19.85% and Chrome's 52.96% share, according to StatCounter.
Browsers built-in to the OS: Safari, Chrome and the Android browser tend to be the leading browsers on mobile. As opposed to Chrome's 30.06% share and Safari's 39.49% share, Firefox barely registers with just 0.58% share, according to data from NetApplications. That being said, the company's recent move to release Firefox OS, an open-source mobile OS based on its web browser technologies failed to attract significant market share.
With support iOS, Firefox could emerge as a browser that offers more privacy controls unlike its competitors such as Chrome, which could appeal to users who are concerned about their ability to control access to their private data, government spying programs and more.
