Mobile version of Firefox to be launched within days; Nokia N900 gets first crack at it?

According to the BBC, Mozilla's Jay Sullivan says that the mobile version of the Firefox browser could be days away from getting launched. Sullivan says that the open source software is going through final testing and could be released before the end of the year. The mobile browser, also known as Fennec, will be able to sync with the desktop model. Any web pages open in a user's desk top browser will automatically open in the mobile version. Sullivan says that, "At the end of the working day you can walk away from your computer and keep on going on your phone," adding, "It encrypts all of the information and sends it back through the cloud between your desktop and mobile."Unless some type of emergency arises, Sullivan expects the software to be ready for downloading by the end of 2009. The first device that will be able to use the browser is the Nokia N900. Users will be able to download the mobile Firefox from the Mozilla web page or from Nokia's Ovi store. Versions are being prepared for the Windows Mobile and Android OS. iPhone users will have to wait. Mr. Sullivan explains that by saying, "Apple is very restrictive. As it's a pretty closed platform we don't see that (an iPhone version) happening soon." Besides, Apple only allows WebKit powered browsers to be used on the iPhone. The Fennec browser uses a different technology.

Currently, Opera software is the most popular mobile browser followed by the iPhone's Safari and Nokia's own browser in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. But if the action on desktop computers is any guide, mobile Firefox should do quite well. The desktop version of the software has just overtaken Interner Explorer 7 to be the most popular browser in the World with a share of 21.93%, compared with IE7's 21.2% The new mobile version will offer some of the features of the desktop model including tabbed browsing and a combination address/search bar. It will also be the first  mobile browser to have "add-ons" that can provide functions like a news reader or other things that will, in effect, customize the phone in the same manner now done by downloading apps from an online "store" or "market". Sullivan says that one won't replace the other and that both the add-ons from the browser and app stores can peacefully "co-exist."

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source: BBC