Synchronization with the desktop instead of a real browser
On Thursday night, Mozilla announced that it would also conquer the iPhone with "Firefox Home". However, the app under development is not a browser, but a synchronization tool. "It makes data such as favorites and tabs from the desktop Firefox available on the iPhone in order to use them in Safari," explains Mozilla Europe President Tristan Nitot to press release.
Mozilla wants to give users a more personal web experience. "It also allows Mozilla to learn about the app store approval process and assess how it can be brought into line with our open source strategy for earlier and more frequent releases," says Nitot. A full-fledged Firefox for the Apple smartphone is still not in sight.
Favorites for on the go
Firefox Home is based on Mozilla's Firefox Sync technology, originally introduced as "Weave Sync". It saves browser history, bookmarks and currently open tabs on the desktop in encrypted form so that they can be accessed on other devices. In addition, Firefox Home includes an implementation of the "Awesome Bar" known from the desktop browser and promises users to find recently visited pages on the iPhone without much typing.
The limited iPhone multitasking is not an obstacle to usability. "The app relies on Safari's native browser engine and won't exit when you select a link in Firefox Home," explains Nitot. In principle, the application also works on the iPad, but is not optimized for the larger display. When it will actually be available to users is still open. Mozilla plans to submit it to the App Store in mid-June, after which the often sluggish approval process has to be completed.
Preview on Firefox Home (Photo: mozilla.com)
Strict Apple regime
"Of course, we would prefer to be able to offer a full Firefox experience on the iPhone. A browser choice is important because the browser is the interface between the user and most of his digital life," emphasizes Nitot. However, according to Mozilla, this is not possible due to Apple's developer restrictions. In particular, Apple's developer conditions do not allow the rendering engine and the JavaScript interpreter for Firefox to be sold to iPhone users.
According to Mozilla, the fact that the Norwegian browser manufacturer Opera was able to get its Mini past Apple's totalitarian browser regime to the iPhone is due to the special architecture of Opera Mini. "Technically speaking, the browser runs mainly on Opera's servers, which do all the work. Then the rendered pages are transferred to lean software that actually has very limited capabilities," explains Nitot.(ck)
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