Mozilla to join mobile party

Web browser developer Mozilla, creator of Firefox, has revealed plans to bring its own offering to the mobile table.

To date, Mozilla’s foray into the mobile space has been through fairly niche channels. A Mozilla-based browser is already available for the the Nokia N800 and Firefox is a key part of Ubuntu Mobile, part of the Intel Internet Project. Most recently, chip manufacturer ARM has put serious effort towards Firefox on mobile devices.

“A large portion of the world accesses the internet from mobile devices, and this will become increasingly true over time,” said Mike Schroepfer, VP of engineering at Mozilla. “Each Firefox install is an individual choice by a person to download something that didn’t ship by default on their computer. Why not offer that option for mobile devices?”

Mozilla reckons the desktop and mobile browsing experiences can be bridged to build a better experience for both. “Wouldn’t it be great if your bookmarks, history, extensions, etc. from Firefox on your computer just worked on your phone?” said Schroepfer.

As a result, Mozilla will expand its small team of full time mobile contributors to focus on the technology. The company recently hired Christian Sejersen, the former head of browsers at mobile software firm Openwave, to head up the engineering department.