<div>Such a dizzying number of phones have been launched these past two months. First at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and then at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. And sandwiched between these events have been releases from Samsung for mid- and lower-range phones, a couple of flagships from HTC, the Z from Sony, and BlackBerry — lots of low-cost large-sized smartphones, and many others, leading up to the Galaxy S IV launch on 14 March. We may well also see a new iPhone later.<br /> </div><div>Anyone wondering just how many more phones the world can handle would have to be forgiven.<br /> <br />But guess what, things are going to get more complicated. At the top, the competition is so tight that the big players will have to give their best shot. Apple will have to re-energise its iPhone and Samsung will have to keep up the innovation and continue to carpet-bomb the planet with phones at every price point. We also know there’s a big struggle for that famous “third place” that both Microsoft and BlackBerry want. In the in-between range, there will be interesting chaos with a multitude of players from one geographical region to the other. But in the “budget” segment, the numbers are huge and many firms want to stake their claim on “the next billion” to connect to the Internet via smartphones. And this will happen, not just because of pieces of hardware but because of software that will sit on them— get ready for more operating systems (OS) to join the mix. <br /> </div><div>Mozilla’s Firefox OS, which was launched at the MWC, got a great reception. Much like the browser so many of us use, the Firefox OS is built with the Web at its core. The idea is to blur the boundaries between apps and the Internet. Key in a search term and the screen will fill up with relevant apps that you can press and stick on to your device. These will be based on HTML5, so there are enough developers already for it. There is also a Firefox Marketplace, but one is not tied to using it. <br /> </div><div>Mozilla showed devices from a few firms, including Alcatel and ZTE, and even has a vote of confidence from Sony, which will develop a device for the OS. Otherwise, too, Mozilla Firefox has some 16 carriers and 21 partners, including Huawei and LG, both of which have considerable numbers. It is meant for emerging markets and will not be on the really expensive devices. The lower end of the phone market is large enough, so even a few percentage points of the market share mean a lot is to be gained. <br /> </div><div>But it’s not like others don’t realise the potential of the budget market. Samsung recently launched some Java-based phones in a new Rex series, aiming to take some market share away from Nokia and its Asha series. There are many other players, of course, and many of them Chinese. Samsung, not on board for a Firefox device, has an OS of its own in the works. Tizen, being developed with Intel, has features like the TouchWiz interface and Samsung’s Bada, which has now been incorporated in it. This OS also supports HTML5. Samsung may be able to spread Tizen devices across different segments.<br /> <br />Other OSs are gesture-based Jolla, put together by ex-Nokia MeeGo developers, and Ubuntu, the Linux variant developed for mobiles by Canonical. <br /> </div><div>There are plenty of sceptics who don’t think Firefox or any others can put a dent in the pie that is being fought over fiercely by Samsung and Apple. They don’t believe there’s room for more and feel that any others entering this competitive arena will have a tough time developing an ecosystem. Well, they may be wrong and I certainly hope so, because like Mozilla’s CEO Gary Kovacs, I too think no technology should be owned by one or two companies. <br /> </div><div>What’s great to see is that while devices based on the Firefox OS won’t be commercially available until later this year or maybe even 2014, there’s something tangible to show already, and it looks good.<br /><br />mala(at)pobox(dot)com<br />(at)malabhargava on Twitter<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 25-03-2013)</span></div>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
