Mozilla to end Firefox OS smartphone support

Free-software community Mozilla will soon end support for Firefox OS on smartphones after release of the operating system's latest version 2.6, a media report said.

"We are announcing our plan to end-of-life support for smartphones after the Firefox OS 2.6 release," said the Mozilla community announcement, according to venturebeat.com.

"This means that Firefox OS for smartphones will no longer have staff involvement beyond May," said the community which uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products.

The announcement came about two months after Mozilla revealed that the web-focused Firefox OS platform, which was designed to help manufacturers build budget devices in developing markets, would cease to be available on mobile phones.

Moreover, the Marketplace, Mozilla's home for apps designed for devices running Firefox OS, Firefox for Android, or Firefox desktop, will stop accepting submissions for Android, desktop and tablet from March 29 - after which point all apps that do not support Firefox OS will be removed.

The Mozilla community said that Firefox OS apps will still be accepted into 2017. It hasn't set a date for when it will stop accepting them.

First unveiled in 2012, Firefox OS was designed as an alternative operating system for mobile devices. But with the market already dominated by other platforms, including Android, it struggled to gain a foothold.

Mozilla has effectively exited the smartphone realm because of competition from the likes of Apple, Google, and to a lesser extent Microsoft.