Firefox OS Reportedly Nearing Completion and Coming to CES

There are more open source smartphones coming this year than you can shake a stick at, ranging from Ubuntu phones to Tizen Linux-based handsets. But among the most eagerly awaited phones are new handsets based on Mozilla's open Firefox OS. Back in February, we reported on how Mozilla is in an alliance with Telefonica and Qualcomm to become a serious player in the smartphone business. The partners are aiming to deliver their initial phones at low price points in emerging markets. 

With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) running this week, there are confirmations online that Firefox OS-based phones are on the show floor in Las Vegas. And, you can already get an early peek at them online.

Among several photographic tours of phones running Firefox OS, The Verge has a very good gallery of shots, found here.  The Verge reports that the OS is two weeks away from being fully completed, according to Mozilla officials, and adds:

"Mozilla's UI philosophy here is similar to Android: unlocking the phone takes you to a homescreen that can display your favorite apps and bookmarks, with the rest of your apps stored in an app drawer. Unlike Android, however, it's entirely HTML5 based — most of the apps are simply websites, and although there's a store planned you'll also be able to find apps through a built-in search engine based on SEO."

The HTML 5 focus is a big deal for Mozilla and CNet also confirms that there will be a trend toward turning web sites into apps with the OS.

You can find collected updates on Firefox OS here. VentureBeat has also put out a very interesting piece on Firefox OS and how Mozilla is seeding an ecosystem of apps for it.

Robert Nyman, a Technical Evangelist for Mozilla, has posted a Flickr gallery of screenshots of Firefox OS. Here is an example: