Browser firm unveils plans for mobile Firefox

Mozilla is working on a mobile version of its Firefox web browser, according to the company's vice president of engineering.

"People ask us all the time about what Mozilla is going to do about the mobile web, and I am very excited to announce that we plan to rock it," Mike Schroepfer said on his Schrep blog.

"We are serious about bringing the Firefox experience and technology to mobile devices."

Schroepfer claimed that Mozilla's entry to the mobile world would help mould what is currently a "fragmented" platform.

"Bringing Firefox add-ons, the Mozilla platform (including XUL), open source, and a large and passionate community to the closed and fragmented mobile platform will do the world some serious good," he said.

Schroepfer added that it is time to act because mobile devices outsell computers 20 to one, and a large portion of the world now accesses the internet on the move.

However, he stressed that Firefox already had some space in the mobile market.

"You can already get a Mozilla-based browser for the Nokia N800 and Firefox is a key part of Ubuntu Mobile and the new Intel Internet Project, and most recently ARM has put serious effort towards Firefox on mobile devices," he said.

As part of Mozilla's plans, Schroepfer said that mobile devices will be added to the first class, or tier-one, platform set for Mozilla2.

"This means we will make core platform decisions with mobile devices as first-class citizens," he said.