{"id":1012,"date":"2019-01-27T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tola.me.uk\/blog\/?p=1012"},"modified":"2021-02-13T17:28:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T17:28:51","slug":"the-legacy-of-firefox-os","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tola.me.uk\/blog\/2019\/01\/27\/the-legacy-of-firefox-os\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legacy of Firefox OS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally posted on Medium<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2017 I wrote about the story of Firefox OS<\/a>, from the birth of the B2G (Boot to Gecko) open source software project as an empty GitHub repository in 2011, to shipping as Firefox OS on five million devices worldwide, and then eventually being \u201ctransitioned\u201d to the community in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the two years or so since Mozilla announced the end of Firefox OS as a Mozilla-run project, the B2G source code has found its way into a surprising number of commercial products. In fact since Mozilla moved on from Firefox OS, its derivatives have shipped on an order of magnitude more devices than during its entire time under Mozilla\u2019s leadership and it has gone on to form the basis of the third largest and fastest growing mobile operating system in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog post I take a look at the legacy of the B2G project, some of the devices you can buy today running B2G code, and other related efforts which still continue inside and outside Mozilla. I will cover KaiOS, Panasonic\u2019s My Home Screen, Servonk, Webian, Astian OS, IceWolf OS and the latest in Mozilla Research & Development. I\u2019ll then explain why I think there\u2019s a strong argument for Mozilla to take a more active role in supporting downstream users of Gecko in future, and even the B2G codebase itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KaiOS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Probably the most notable fork of the B2G source code is KaiOS from KaiOS Technologies<\/a>. It was started<\/a> in 2016 with a team of 30 people and has since grown to have offices<\/a> in France, Germany, Taiwan, India, Brazil, Hong Kong and mainland China in addition to its headquarters in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
KaiOS logo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

KaiOS has a UI optimised for non-touch \u201csmart feature phones\u201d with physical keypads and small colour screens. That includes the hugely popular JioPhone<\/a> in India, HMD\u2019s nostalgic re-launch of the Nokia 8110<\/a>, and the recently announced $7 WizPhone<\/a> in Indonesia. With these devices KaiOS is very much continuing the Firefox OS vision of \u201cconnecting the next billion\u201d, with low end devices aimed mainly at emerging markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
KaiOS Technologies CEO Sebastien Codeville with KaiOS devices at CES 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JioPhone<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The JioPhone has been extremely popular in India since its launch in July 2017, in part due to being given away for free, with a security deposit of \u20b91500 ($21 USD) which can be refunded by returning the device to Jio stores after three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JioPhone 2 was released in July 2018 at a price of \u20b92,999 ($42 USD). It has a full QWERTY keyboard and has apps for Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
JioPhone & JioPhone 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nokia 8110<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Nokia 8110 is available internationally, including here in the UK with a recommended retail price of \u00a369.99 ($89) unlocked. It\u2019s available from many popular retailers and mobile network providers including Carphone Warehouse, Currys, John Lewis, Amazon, Vodafone, EE, GiffGaff and BT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Nokia 8110<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Nokia 8110 is a very neat little device with an intuitive UI reminiscent of Symbian, but with a modern twist. It\u2019s surprising how much of the web actually works on such a small non-touch screen, though it\u2019s a very fiddly experience if you\u2019re used to a touch screen smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of Google Assistant on feature phones at this price point is remarkable and it works surprisingly well. To implement Google Assistant for KaiOS, Google have created a custom HTML5 app packaged for the mozApp app runtime KaiOS inherited from B2G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Nokia 8110 running Google Assistant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I first bought the Nokia 8110 the bundled app store had a grand total of eight apps in it and there\u2019s no way to install web apps from the browser. Since then it has grown a little, but only to about 30 apps and most of them are games. (The JioPhone comes with its own app store called JioStore and not all apps are available on all KaiOS devices, e.g. WhatsApp.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WizPhone WP006<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The WizPhone WP006 was recently announced<\/a> in Indonesia in partnership with Google and Alfamart and can be purchased from vending machines for only IDR99,000 ($7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
WizPhone WP006<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other KaiOS Devices<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Other devices<\/a> running KaiOS include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n