A new challenge to Android

Mozilla has combined with Telefonica, an European mobile network operator and has announced a new operating system for mobiles. This will offer the HTML 5 based devices for the first time. The OWD (Open Web Devices) platform as it is known at present will be based on HTML 5 and it will use the Linux Kernel that is used by the Android devices.

Telefonica states that this operating system will be launched this year and it is a significant step taken in the establishment of the HTML 5 as a major one for the smartphones. It will also enable the smartphones to be available at low prices. This platform has got a wide support from various companies like Qualcomm, Adobe and Getjar.

The new mobile platform will be maintained by Mozilla. The devices making use of this software, Boot to Gecko will rely on the web completely allowing the HTML 5 apps to access the core APIs of the phone. Thereby all the capabilities of the device will be developed as HTML 5 apps and so they can be executed using the Firefox browser itself.

This ability of B2G requires no middleware and superfluous software that makes the apps to run faster and so the price of the devices will be low. We have already seen that the LG smartphone making use of this Mozilla B2G platform is displayed at the MWC 2012.