Mozilla Plans Mobile App Store

dkd903 writes "Mozilla wants to make it big in the Mobile world and has revealed its plans for a unique mobile app store in its annual report — 'The State of Mozilla,' which was released recently. Mozilla has already brought the desktop Firefox experience to mobile devices as the Fennec browser, which was initially launched for the Maemo platform on Nokia N900. Mozilla has designed a prototype of a mobile app store and plans to call it a 'Open Web App ecosystem.' The aim is to create an open app store platform that would consist of apps that can run on all mobile devices: — A 'Mobile Device Independent' App Store."

Re:Is this really needed?

[martin-boundary]

Maybe it is just me, but cell phones seem to require more involvement by at least one party to ensure quality control.

All the main Linux distros do quality control implicitly when they package their binaries. For every big and not so bit piece of open source and/or Free software, there's a distro guy who makes sure it installs and at least runs when invoked. Those guys sometimes do a whole lot of work to make that happen, even.

I don't see what's so special about cell phones and app stores - especially if they run Linux under the covers anyway.

I'd like a taste

[zeroRenegade]

I'd be interested in seeing an app store moderated by a free software foundation. I think it could attract a lot of talented developers. It would free us from the walled garden and the android market is being drowned by a flood of low quality development. For example, if you look for a live wallpaper, there are hundreds of applications from just a few of the same developers. Developers should be restricted in the amount of applications that they slapped together which they are allowed to release. A foundation like Mozilla understands good software.

Cloud applications are making a good fight, but in reality local applications/games in javascript and webgl are the future. Both of these types of web applications could be distributed through mozilla. I'd be willing to part with the same 30% that Apple takes from my pie, if the store garners a decent customer base.

Guaranteed Fail

[digitaltraveller]

I'll bet good money this will fail. One reason apps are so popular is that their user experience is so highly customised to their individual devices.

Re:Store?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just Mozilla users?
This whole concept of an "app" as define in Apple newspeak, is an mere artifact of the DRMed-to-hell platforms that are coming out.
All the games, transport timetables, maps etc that you could access free on the web, you can now buy for your phone.

I really hope that Mozilla's "Open Web App ecosystem" smashes all these 25% free-as-in-beer with censorship existing app stores to bits.

Cart before horse

[suv4x4]

I love the guys at Mozilla, but damn they're good at digging a hole for themselves.

All mobile platforms have stores that offer apps. Including web stack apps, as both for iPhone, Symbian and Android, *officially approved* SDK-s exists that compile cross-platform apps driven by the built-in WebKit (plus extra API-s exposed to it, to make it an app).

This means Mozilla will be creating a niche no one is asking for, and potentially shooting their chances of being on the iPhone, as Apple has shown it may approve video players and web browsers in some cases, but it'll never approve an App Store app.

Everyone *everyone* I have seen install Mozilla's browser on a mobile says the same thing: make it faster, make it more efficient. I guess they thought this is not fancy enough, so let's put an app store clone... Sigh.