Mozilla has refused to entertain the notion of releasing a version of its Firefox web browser for iOS devices until Apple changes its restrictive third party policies.
As reported by CNET, Mozilla vice president of product Jay Sullivan revealed the news while speaking on a mobile browser panel at the South by Southwest Interactive conference.
Mozilla’s chief bugbear is that Apple refuses to allow the ability to install alternative rendering engines onto its devices. Only its own WebKit can be used.
While this is fine for the likes of Google, whose Chrome browser runs on the WebKit platform just as Safari does, Mozilla uses the alternative Gecko rendering engine.
This isn’t the only way Apple restrict third party web browser developers, either. It’s impossible to set anything other than Safari as your default iOS web browser. This means that any links you touch will automatically open up in Safari and no other installed browser.
Mozilla pulled its version of Mozilla Firefox Home from the App Store back in September 2012, and is not currently working on a new version of the browser.
This is a risky move on Mozilla’s part, as despite being available for the more open Android operating system, it is currently responsible for only one per cent of the mobile browser market. This stands in comparison to Apple’s 55 per cent share with Safari.
Of course, it also has its own fledgling mobile OS, Firefox OS, to push over the coming months, and Apple is a direct rival to those plans.
Are you an iOS owner frustrated by the lack of Firefox on your phone? Or are you perfectly happy with Safari and Chrome? Let us know in the comments section below, or via Twitter and Facebook.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
