Mozilla confirms Firefox OS tablet

Mozilla and Foxconn have officially announced that they are partnering on five different devices, including a Firefox OS tablet.

Mozilla and Foxconn have officially announced that they are partnering on five different devices, including a Firefox OS tablet.

The reveal came on the press preview day ahead of the official opening of the Computex conference in Taiwan. Although neither details regarding hardware specifications nor the company responsible for the device's design were revealed, what Mozilla did make clear is that the tablet, currently in its prototype stage, will have a 10-inch display and will be aimed at both developed and emerging markets.

Of the partnership, Mozilla Taiwan CEO and senior vice president for mobile devices, Li Gong said 'They [Foxconn] are going to bring not just smartphone, but a number of other devices and that's another big addition to the Firefox ecosystem.'

Although the tablet market -- just like the smartphone market -- appears to be a two-horse race between Apple and Android, Mozilla, the not-for-profit company behind the Firefox web browser and now the Firefox OS operating system, believes that there is room for another new entrant, especially one that will be completely open source -- i.e., no app stores or walled gardens and one that uses universal coding languages such as javaScript and HTML5.

During the press event to officially announce the partnership, Mozilla also suggested that the Firefox operating system will not be confined to mobile and that it could be coming to other devices, including TVs, in the future.

Although seen as an underdog with a huge mountain to climb in order to attract potential users to its products, the Firefox OS can already boast Sony, ZTE and LG among its supporters, all of whom are currently preparing Firefox OS smartphone handsets for launch later this year.