Firefox Home App is on the Way

Update: Firefox Home is now available. For our coverage on FireFox Home, please click here.
We like surprises. Luckily, Mozilla has one on the way. Company CEO John Lily states, “Mozilla will release an app to the iPhone app store in the next few weeks, [and] it’ll surprise people.” Now for me, I’ve always felt about different browsers sort of the way I feel about Coke vs. Pepsi . . . Sure, there are differences, some more noticeable than others, but they all get the job done.

Not so for a whole bunch of other people. Browsers like Chrome, Safari, and Firefox apparently have the power to create sects, divisions, and clans among otherwise happy internet users. So this news of Mozilla’s upcoming app is sure to put smiles on the faces of the team wearing jerseys with those cute foxes on them.

It’s not a full-blown browser. Apple’s protection of iPhone’s core functionalities prevent Mozilla from going in that direction. It looks like what we’ll get from this somewhat-mysterious application is the ability to sync browsing history, tabs, bookmarks, and the Awesome Bar from computer to iPhone.  Mozilla’s description of it as a “get up and go” experience seems to indicate  it’ll basically help continue an internet session once you’re forced to step away from the laptop or desktop computer.

I’m not sure how Opera got around Apple’s “core functionality” caveat, but apparently Firefox couldn’t do the same and bring a full-blown browser to the table.  Instead, we’re getting a free, encrypted app that works using one-way sync and will be functional on iPad (though not optimized).

The video below is quite unremarkable and more than a little boring. But regardless, score a point for Team Firefox and let’s wait and see what we get when Firefox Home hits the app store next month.

About the Author

Devin Wieland

 

Free! Gem Keeper