At long last, Spain-based Geeksphone has started selling its Firefox OS smartphones, the Keon and the Peak (pictured right). Pricing for the Keon is $119; the higher-end Peak runs for $194. At the time of writing, the Geeksphone website was suffering a high volume of traffic, though it was still possible to go through the checkout process.

Firefox OS is an HTML5-centric platform designed to deliver software as Web apps, and Mozilla is pitching the OS as a superior alternative for low-end smartphones in developing markets. Mozilla partnered with Telefónica and Geeksphone to launch the now-available developer smartphones, the Keon and the Peak.

Geeksphone bills the $119 Keon as "a light and versatile, but also powerful developer preview device which has all the hardware features you need to start developing software for Firefox OS in a performant environment," as well as "a great companion for your daily tasks." The Keon's specs are as follows:

1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU

3.5-inch HVGA multitouch screen

3-megapixel camera

4GB of ROM and 512MB of RAM

MicroSD, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio FM, GPS support, and MicroUSB

The $194 Peak, meanwhile, is a "powerful developer preview device introducing cutting-edge features, like a 4.3-inch qHD screen," according to Geeksphone. Its features include:

1.2GHz x2 Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU

4.3-inch qHD IPS multitouch screen

8-megapixal camera in the back and a 2-megapixel camera in the front

4GB of ROM and 512MB of RAM

MicroSD, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio FM and GPS, and a MicroUSB

Mozilla has already announced the creation of the Firefox Marketplace, from which users will be able to snag apps for games, news and media, business, and productivity. According to Mozilla, "these apps are tied to you and your online identity to take across devices and platforms."

According to Mozilla, the Firefox Marketplace will include such apps as AccuWeather, Airbnb, Box, Facebook, Nokia HERE, Pulse News, SoundCloud, SporTV, Terra, Time Out, and Twitter.

Mozilla has made available a host of tools for developers seeking to contribute to the Firefox Marketplace, including a Firefox OS Simulator that shows how apps will appear when running on Firefox OS. The platform gives Web developers a mobile environment dedicated to apps created with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There are two types of Firefox OS apps: packaged and hosted. Packed apps are essentially Zip files containing all of an app's assets: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, manifest, and so on. Hosted apps are run from a server at a given domain, similar to a standard website.

This story, "Geeksphone starts selling Firefox OS developer phones," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.