When you don't have a mobile OS of your own and those that do all have their own browsers, you can't afford to walk away from any opportunity
I was dismayed reading an article on WMPoweruser the other day (I recreated the graphic from what I saw there, but think my version is better). It referenced an interview on Gizmodo with Christopher Blizzard, the Director of Developer Relations and Open Source Evangelist at Mozilla. Blizzard in no uncertain terms indicated that they will not be supporting a version of Firefox on the new Windows Mobile 7. This is actually what Blizzard said: “We were going to do Windows Mobile because Windows Mobile really needed a good browser, but they shut down their platform. On Windows Phone 7] they said, ‘You can use stuff in Silverlight if you want, but you have to come through our app store, and we get to veto.’ We’re not going to bother. They’re gonna ship some version of IE, which is gonna be terrible…”
We’re not going to bother? Is he kidding? Lets think about this. Even without the new version 7 of Windows Mobile, the very long in the tooth Windows Mobile 6.x still commands a bigger share of the smartphone market than Android (though probably not for long). Say what you want about Microsoft, but they are putting some of their marketing muscle behind the new Windows Mobile version. Do you really think they are not going to push out a few handsets? Who is the competition? Apple? Google?
Last time I checked both Apple and Google not only had their own mobile OS, but they also had their own browsers that they pushed on their own mobile OS. Did I miss something and Mozilla has their own mobile OS to serve as a platform for mobile Firefox? No they don’t, do they.
It would seem to me that if you don’t have a mobile OS that you can call your own and those that do have their own browser, you would seize any chance you can get to grab a foothold on a mobile platform.
Microsoft has made no secret that they are willing to bend their rules to attract a full line up of apps and options for the platform. I am sure they could have worked something out with Mozilla. Instead Mozilla seems to still be fighting the browser wars of years ago. The threat is not Microsoft and IE, it is Apple with Safari and Google with Chrome.
At the end of the day, Windows Mobile 7 is going to get its share of users. Firefox does not have to offer them a choice. These users will use IE. It many not be good, but Microsoft will make it better.
In the meantime Mozilla may wake up one day and find that someone killed the fox. They have no place on the iPhone, Chrome squeezed them out of Android and they choose to ignore Microsoft. It just doesn’t seem like a smart business move to me.
