Will Mozilla's Fennec Mobile Browser Be a 2009 Hit?

by Sam Dean - Dec. 29, 2008Comments (2)

Back in November, we took note of the progress that Mozilla has made in ramping up its Fennec mobile browser.  Now, Fennec is available in an Alpha 2 test version for Windows, the Mac and Linux desktop users. Yes, it's a strange concept to test a mobile browser on desktop systems, but that's how Mozilla will leverage the largest possible community behind Fennec. Quite a few reports are coming in about how Fennec's interface works, and, although I intend to wait to use it in a more stable version, I'm very encouraged by what the earliest testers are saying. Could this open source project redefine how people think about mobile browsing?

In August, we covered a screencast showing interface concepts for the Fennec browser. You can still see it here. That screencast made clear that Fennec would probably make extensive use of zooming, and would rely on users to think of off-screen interface components as parts of their browsing experience.

Sure enough, some of the early Alpha testers at BetaNews report that combinations of off-screen functionality and on-screen components are integral to how Fennec works:

"Fennec's gamble is that mobile users won't mind having to scoot the page over in order to find the functionality they need -- a bit like spreading one's papers out over a bistro coffee table in an attempt to get work done. You have to get used to the idea that the address bar can be beneath whatever's on the top edge, a history of saved pages is outside whatever's on the left, and the Back and Forward buttons, and your typical menu bar categories, is outside whatever's on the right."

Many people feel that Apple's Safari for iPhone browser was a game-changer for mobile browsers, but Mozilla has a chance to extend the innovation going on in this space. One of the main advantages that Fennec may have, compared to Apple's browser, Opera and others is that the powerful universe of Firefox extensions can be leveraged. Indeed, I covered the very first Firefox extension forked to Fennec here. Mozilla delivered only a quiet announcement about that first extension, but extensions could be a very big deal--just as they are to Firefox users.

If Mozilla can deliver a really robust mobile browsing interface in the final version of Fennec, then complement it by encouraging developers of Firefox extensions to deliver versions for Fennec, and then get Fennec placed as the default browser on mobile hardware platforms, the combination could be powerful. This is likely to start playing out in 2009, and Fennec should be one of the most interesting open source projects to follow next year.

 

 


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2 Comments
 

The key here is going to be OEM adoption. Just having a mobile browser is one thing. Getting it on to user devices is another. It may be the browser of choice for some netbooks, etc. where users are still savvy about 'software', but without the reach and muscle of M$, Google and Apple, getting the browser on to devices may prove to be harder than expected. Google may push Chrome on to Android devices. MS will continue to push IE on WinMobile and the iPhone ain't moving away from Safari any time soon! 2009 is indeed going to be interesting for Fennec.


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