FireFox OS –A $25 dream

$25 dollar smartphone is likely to remain slideware

• Mozilla is moving to fulfil the promise of an ultra-cheap smartphone but the outcome of this initiative is out of its hands.
• In February 2014, Mozilla together with Spreadtrum launched a smartphone reference design that promised to put a Firefox OS smartphone in the hands of a user for an unsubsidised price of $25.
• This device is now expected to launch in Indonesia and India towards the end of this year and should the devices make it to market, they should attract reasonable demand.
• There will be a problem with the device not being Android as this is what a lot of emerging market customer’s demand, but the price is so attractive it should help users overcome this preference.
• However, the biggest problem with this device is that I can’t see any manufacturers being willing to make it.
• At the heart of this design is the SC6821 from Spreadtrum which offers Cortex A5 @ 1Ghz, 1GB embedded DRAM and 2GB of external NAND flash.
• The reference design includes a 3.5inch HVGA screen, 0.3MP camera, 2G EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth and FM radio.
• This is not exactly exciting in the smartphone world but at $25, this measures up impressively against budget feature phones in this price tier.
• However, the bean counters at the handset makers being offered this design will be wondering how they will be able to make any money at all out of it.
• With this specification RFM calculates that any manufacturer making the device will have to sell 10m in order to break-even.
• This means every handset maker that takes on the design will be looking for total commitments of at least 10m units before going into production.
• This kind of commitment is almost unheard of in the mobile phone industry and I suspect that even getting commitments of 1m will be almost impossible.
• This is exactly what killed the GSMA’s “3G for all” program in 2007 where LG could not secure commitments from operators for the KU250 to be able to make a decent return on the device.
• It seems that history will once again repeat itself and unless operators can be made to really step up, this device will not make it off slideware.
• Hence, while this is a great idea, it is totally impractical and I cannot see this project putting any extra pressure on Android or any of the other smartphone platforms.
• Consequently, Firefox OS is likely to remain a smartphone platform that aims to offer superior performance than a similar priced Android device.
• Since its launch in 2013, it has failed to fulfil that promise and as a result shipments and uptake of the OS have been very disappointing.
• Something fundamental needs to change in order for FireFox OS to become anything more than a footnote in smartphone history.