First Firefox OS-based smartphone to launch this week in Spain

Mozilla’s first mobile operating system, Firefox OS, will launch Tuesday with the ZTE Open smartphone being offered by a wireless carrier in Spain, the Web browser developer announced.

The ZTE Open will cost about $90 when converted from euros. It will be the first device released to the general public that uses Mozilla’s new Firefox OS platform.

Mozilla is launching Firefox OS as a way to give consumers a choice besides Apple’s iPhone and devices running on Google’s Android system. Like its Web browser counterpart, Firefox OS is an open system. It was also developed using HTML 5, a coding platform used to develop websites.

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“Firefox OS is an extension of the Firefox desktop and mobile browsing experience that hundreds of millions of people know and love, so you can expect all the security, privacy, customization and user control Firefox always delivers,” Mozilla said in a statement.

The nonprofit organization said Firefox OS will also kick off soon in other markets with the release of the ZTE Open as well as the Alcatel One Touch Fire smartphones. The platform and devices will be supported by Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica, which owns Movistar.

“We believe that smartphones need to be more open and that the Web is the platform for making this possible,” said Jose Maria Alvarez Palette, Telefónica’s chief operating officer. “Consumers should not be locked to any one system but have the choice to consume the content they want and the flexibility to be able to take it with them when they change devices.”

No word on when either of the phones or Firefox OS will launch in the U.S.

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