Cape Town - Smartphones equipped with the Firefox operating system (OS) are hitting stores in South Africa.
Firefox OS is the world’s first web-based operating system offering an alternative to the likes of Google Android. The Firefox marketplace also dishes up popular apps such as Facebook and Twitter in HTML5 format.
And mobile network MTN says it's first to market in Africa with the Alcatel OneTouch Fire E which is available in SA from Friday.
The device is available at selected outlets on prepaid for R1 699 and on contract for R89 per month on the MTN MyChoice 25 package.
"Having a smartphone based on the Firefox operating system means we can deliver numerous unique product innovations. For example, the phone can be easily set up for four of the 11 official languages, namely English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and Xhosa. MTN will incorporate other languages in future versions of the phone," said Larry Annetts, chief marketing officer at MTN South Africa, in a statement.
Powered by a 1.2GHz dual core processor mated to 512MB of RAM, the Alcatel OneTouch smartphone is on the lower end of the spectrum as far as electronic clout is concerned. The device also features a display of 11.4cm (4.5 inch) and a 5 megapixel camera.
Growing low-cost smartphone market
Smartphone players are increasingly targeting the South African market with lower cost devices.
Earlier this year, Vodacom announced plans to start selling its R1 499 Android powered Smart 4 Turbo LTE smartphone. Meanwhile, Microsoft launched its Lumia 535 in South Africa - a dual-SIM Windows Phone device that costs R1 699 on prepaid and R149 per month on contract.
The country's fast-growing smartphone market is an attraction to these players. SA is forecast to have 23.6 million users this year, up from 19 million in 2014, according to research from World Wide Worx Managing Director Arthur Goldstuck.
"We are in the midst of a massive migration from feature phones to smartphones," Goldstuck told Fin24.
Goldstuck further said that phone makers such as Alcatel OneTouch are targeting South Africa because they want to sell low-cost smartphones at high volumes.
"Huawei was the first to come in with a low-end smartphone and it's really electrified that market," Goldstuck told Fin24 .
"The Ascend Y220 was the phone that started the shift. They launched it in SA at R450, which was a subsidised price, but it really captured that audience," he added.
Firefox faces Android challenge
The low price of the Alcatel OneTouch Fire E may not be enough to disrupt a flood of Android-equipped smartphones entering South Africa, Goldstuck said.
In research revealed last month, Goldstuck said that South Africa is becoming an Android market because half of the country's smartphones are forecast to have the Google operating system.
"Obviously one device and one brand isn't going to challenge Android domination, because Android is across all brands, across all price-points and that's part of the key to the Android dominance in this market," Goldstuck told Fin24.
"So, Firefox would need a similar kind of ecosystem before it can really challenge Android as a whole.
"The key is that it will be popular in its own right but not in relation to Android phones. And that is the key to understanding its potential in the market," he said.
Available content
Thousands of apps are available in the Firefox Marketplace. But this pales in comparison to Android which has over 1.3 million apps in its Google Play Store.
However, the Firefox OS is designed to be different from the way that companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft have developed their systems as "walled gardens".
"The existing players in the market are in the space of wanting to maintain some level of control over what happens in this market and so the best way to describe it is we are putting together an environment - an ecosystem if you will - that allows for no control point," Rick Fant, Mozilla vice president of Planning and Ecosystem told Fin24 recently.
The Play Store has specific provisions that forbid certain types of apps from being hosted. There are also prohibitions on apps that promote illegal activities and infect malware into a user's device.
Apple's App Store takes on a more stringent tone, using words like "creepy" and "amateur hour" to describe the reasons for having applications rejected.
"We will reject apps for any content or behaviour that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, "I'll know it when I see it'. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it," says the company.
Firefox OS is built on HTML5 with a similar security tool set found in the browser which commands around 17% of market share.