Firefox OS – Cheap is cheerful

It’s a sell-out but for the wrong reason.

• The first version of the Firefox OS device, “The Open” by ZTE, appears to have sold out in both the UK and the US.
• The budget smartphone was selling for £60 in the UK and $80 in the US will now not be available until the next production run.
• This is of course is great PR but it always raises the question of how many were actually made available in the first place.
• This is a pretty common tactic in the Apple era that I am certain that almost everyone practices.
• Whatever the supply, it’s a good sign that the device has sold out as demand has clearly been stronger than I expected.
• The promise of Firefox OS is mid to high level smartphone performance at a mid to high feature phone price.
• If this promise is fulfilled then I can see very meaningful volumes.
• However, the first iteration of this platform does not fulfil this vital promise and so it must be something else.
• I suspect that the answer to this question is price.
• The device is super cheap.
• Android devices at the same price point offer poor performance and the greater simplicity of this device means that it should perform somewhat better.
• I suspect that these devices will generate very little in terms of data traffic and that the use case that they will be put to will be very simple.
• Such a low price means that fairly low demands will be placed on these devices and hence they should perform reasonably against expectations.
• Application availability is going to be an issue but again at this stage the kind of user buying these devices is unlikely to demand cutting edge applications.
• This is a good start for getting the devices into the wild but I really need to see the vital promise fulfilled before I get excited about the prospects for this ecosystem.