No Firefox for iPhone? I Would Have Settled for “Firefox.”

By  |  Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 2:24 pm

Mozilla has published a blog post on its plans for the iPhone platform. Basically, they involve (A) focusing on Firefox Home, an app that provides access to Firefox bookmarks, tabs, and history on the iPhone; (B) not doing a full-blown version of Firefox for iPhone; and (C) not letting Firefox Home evolve into something so fancy that it feels like Firefox for the iPhone.

Why no Firefox for iPhone? The Mozilla post doesn’t explain in much detail:

People have asked about adding more browser-like features to Firefox Home, but there are technical and logistical restrictions that make it difficult, if not impossible, to build the full Firefox browser for the iPhone.

The challenges for a real full Firefox on iOS are obvious: As far as I know, Apple’s recent loosening of its App Store guidelines still don’t permit third-party browser companies to write the comprehensive rendering/JavaScript engine that would be required for Mozilla to write a browser from scratch. But as a Firefox fan and an iPhone user, I would have cheerfully settled for a “Firefox” that involved Firefox Home’s features plus more interface functionality but used Apple’s WebKit engine for page rendering.

Atomic Web Browser, which seems to be the work of one guy, is really Safari with a new skin; it’s terrific. I don’t see why Mozilla couldn’t evolve Firefox Home into something similar, and similarly useful–or how doing so wouldn’t be a boon to Firefox aficionados.

 
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4 Comments For This Post

  1. tim Says:
    September 29th, 2010 at 5:30 am

    I think personally if it did ever become it would be a good idea. As much as people love there iPhone's they still want 'choice'. so having an option to use a different brower, be it in app form or embedded into the iphone would be fab.

  2. thehumanyawn Says:
    October 1st, 2010 at 10:46 am

    If I remember correctly, Mozilla wanted to use their own JavaScript engine instead of Apple’s, and Mozilla wasn’t willing to compromise. Which is why Opera is offered for the iPhone. It is Opera, but with a different JavaScript engine. But that’s if I’m remembering correctly 🙂

  3. Dave Says:
    October 5th, 2010 at 7:54 am

    Sorry to post here, but I was wondering if there was anywhere to post comments on your Time Magazine column? great site by the way. I had not heard of it before.

  4. Harry McCracken Says:
    October 5th, 2010 at 7:58 am

    Hi there–normally, you can comment on the TIME.com pieces, but I don't see a link for doing that on the current one. Probably a glitch. I'm about to post a short item on it here, and you can comment there if you like…

    –Harry