By Herman Lai, posted Sep 20, 2012 at 4:20 PM, 467 views,

ZTE is Working on mobile Firefox OS with Mozilla

ZTE, the world’s fourth-largest handset vendor, announced it has teamed up with Firefox maker Mozilla to introduce a new mobile OS later this year or early next year. The Chinese phone maker does not want to just rely on Android or windows, as some handset makers running Android began to embroil into legal disputes with Apple. Most of ZTE’s devices run Google’s Android, while its ‘Tania‘ series uses Windows.

David Dai Shu, a ZTE spokesperson, told Reuters:

“We are trying to increase our efforts in coming up with our own operating system, while introducing products based on Android. It’s all part of our wider plans to create a better balance of products using various operating systems. We won’t just rely on Android or Windows.”

The Shenzhen-based company is also looking into Web-based operating systems, but it has no plans to support those developed by Chinese Internet firms such as Baidu and Alibaba.

Google may not be happy about ZTE’s movements toward a new operating system besides Android, and Google might eventually have something to say to ZTE about cooperating with Mozilla, just like how it put pressure on Acer when the company was going to launch a smartphone based on Alibaba’s Aliyun OS.

Firefox OS first showed up on an unnamed ZTE phone on a Youtube video released by Mozilla. The demo showcased what dialling a person looks like, how games will feature on the system and also how the browser and camera will work.

ZTE’s spokesperson hinted they’re working with a regional telecom carrier outside of China to unveil products based on the new mobile OS.

Source: Reuters