The news about Mozilla Foundation's $25 Firefox OS smartphone has caught the attention of Nokia. The Finnish gadget maker announced the launch of three Android handsets for emerging markets at the Mobile World Congress held this week in Barcelona, according to VentureBeat.
Developing countries are expected to have the biggest growth in terms of smartphone sales. In those countries, Android handsets are not priced at around $50. The Windows Phone platform of Microsoft, which has struggled in the market, is not compatible with lower-end phones, the report explained.
For the past few weeks, news have floating around about Nokia's move towards the Android group in order to gain traction in developing countries such as India where the OS is very popular. The firm's new Asha platform is tailored for this low-end market, the report stated.
Mozilla, on the other hand, says it will launch a handset with a price that is close to zero and runs HTML5 apps. The Flame, as it is called, has a dual-core processor, WiFi, and a 4.5 inch display, the report stated.
Avi Greengart, an analyst from research company Current Analysis, told VentureBeat that Mozilla's rumored phone could be very "disruptive". He added that Nokia "is definitely going to see price pressure from Firefox OS and from plummeting Android phone pricing for the most basic models."
Aside from the $25 handset, Mozilla and it manufacturing partners also revealed seven higher-end smartphones and tablets. The devices that run on Firefox OS are already available in 15 markets, VentureBeat reported.
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