Mozilla Reviews its 2012, Looks Forward to Firefox OS in 2013

Mozilla is out with a detailed new infographic and year-end roundup of data showing how far it has come this year. Of course, it touts the company's upcoming aggressive push into the smartphone arena with Firefox OS, but it also collects some data that may be more unexpected. Did you know that almost one in 10 users of Firefox on the desktop use built-in Do Not Track features? Here are more of the data nuggets.

According to Mozilla's post reviewing 2012 milestones:

 "The excitement around Firefox OS is palpable, and the distance we’ve come in a year is extraordinary. Together with our partners, the Firefox OS team is building the world’s first Open Web Device, and along the way  we’ve introduced nearly 30 new Web APIs to bring the power of mobile apps to the open Web."

"On Android, we listened to our users. We rebuilt Firefox from the ground up, and we delivered something really excellent. The performance of the browser is incredible and we didn’t sacrifice any of the power of the engine to do it. In fact, we’ve expanded our reach by optimizing our performance to run on lower-powered ARMv6 devices as well. Our users are telling us we got this one  right, with week over week ratings in the Google Play Store that are best in class."

The post also higlights some of Mozilla's wins on the desktop, where Firefox remains locked in a tight battle for market share with Google's Chrome browser.

What will 2013 bring from Mozilla? According to the 2012 roundup: "Our browsers need to keep maturing and evolving  as our users do, with features like the Social API expanding the concept  of what a browser can be. For Firefox OS, 2013 will be the year when the world can see and hold and try a real device powered only by the  power of the Web  and, for many, it will be the first smartphone they’ve ever been able to  afford. To do this work will require every Mozillian to find a dozen more."

Mozilla's real challenge as it pushes Firefox OS next year is going to be winning over developers. It will be very critical for the company to quickly build an app ecosystem that can compete with the ones for the iPhone and Android devices.  Toward that end, the company has been delivering online presenations and demos of Firefox OS aimed squarely at developers. This new mobile OS, seen below, will be a story to watch as 2013 unfolds.