Mozilla’s Boot to Gecko (B2G) is about building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web. It aims at making web technologies the number one choice for applications on desktop and mobile, and we believe it can displace proprietary, single-vendor stacks for application development. And we have made some exciting progress that we want to share with you!

The Boot to Gecko project

Let’s start by taking a look at what the project consists of:

Goals Boot to Gecko is Mozilla’s open source web-based operating system for mobile devices. It is the framework for the open web device platform introduced at Mobile World Congress in February, 2012. Technology The Boot to Gecko architecture eliminates the need for apps to be built on platform-specific native APIs. Using HTML5, developers everywhere write directly to the web; they can create amazing user experiences and apps unencumbered by the rules and restrictions of closely controlled platforms. Open Accessible Standards As with all Mozilla projects, the source code is open and accessible and the project is based entirely on open standards. Where open standards are missing (including Telephony, SMS, Camera, Bluetooth, USB, NFC), Mozilla is working with standards bodies and other vendors to create them. Please read more in Mozilla and the Mobile Web API evolution.

Here are a number of interviews, in a wonderful mix of languages, with the developers of the Boot to Gecko project:

To view the video as HTML5, please opt-in to YouTube’s HTML5 Video Player.

Introducing Open Web Devices

Announced today at Mobile World Congress, we have some very exciting news with Open Web Devices! We will be working with telecommunications operator Telefónica, and as detailed in our press release, here are the goals:

Enabling HTML5 devices running on the Open Web which can deliver smartphone capabilities at feature phone prices.

Capabilities being submitted to W3C for standardization and to be made openly available.

Opens up new opportunities for application developers and drives forward HTML5 as a cross-platform standard.

Based on a Qualcomm chipset, Mozilla, Telefónica and Qualcomm will work together to deliver a feature rich prototype platform. The web browser already scores 317 points at HTML5 Test and when it come to being affordable, according to Carlos Domingo of Telefónica, Boot to Gecko phones will be ten times cheaper than an iPhone.

Deutsche Telekom collaboration

We are also happy to announce that Deutsche Telekom’s Innovation Labs will be joining the project to work together with Mozilla in developing Boot to Gecko.

Boot to Gecko demo

Here you can see a demo of Boot to Gecko in action! It shows placing a phone call to a contact, surfing the web and running the HTML5 Test (Where Firefox Mobile has the highest score among all mobile browsers). It then goes to show a Twitter client, playing a game, checking out Google Maps, watching a video on YouTube, reading a book and ends with seeing a local video.

The Web is the Platform

As we in Mozilla have always believed, the Web is the Platform, and open technologies is the way to build things!

Develop for the web and the future!