Coming soon to a mobile phone near you – the Firefox Mobile (otherwise known as Fennec) and with the promise, at least in Mozilla’s eyes, of no more App Stores. This of course is an obvious shot at Apple and its massively successful App Store.

They are basing this on the fact that Firefox Mobile will be launching with the fastest Javascript engine of any mobile browser and the belief that this will encourage developers to develop apps using Javascript and HTML instead of having to develop for each platform. In an interview with PC Pro Jay Sullivan, vice president of mobile at Mozilla said that anyone with knowledge of Javascript and HTML will be able to develop a great app.

Sullivan claims developers are frustrated by the difficulties of writing for multiple mobile platforms. “We look at the problems it creates for small innovators,” he said. “You have to create an iPhone app, an Android app, a Windows Mobile app…”

“As developers get more frustrated with quality assurance, the amount of handsets they have to buy, whether their security updates will get past the iPhone approval process… I think they’ll move to the web.”

Sullivan says it will take time to wean developers away from the app store model, which has been heralded as one of the chief reasons for the iPhone’s success. “In the interim period, apps will be very successful. Over time, the web will win because it always does.”

This of course is dependent on their being a viable ecosystem that will allow developers to make money since this is really the big driving force behind the success of the App Store.

Mozilla promising an app store free mobile future is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Mozilla team says the updated Fennec contains huge performance updates, with faster startup times, better panning and zooming, and better responsiveness while pages are loading.

“We’ve re-factored a significant amount of the front end code resulting in substantial speed improvements as well providing a much better base for extension authors to build upon,” says Stuart Parmenter, Fennec engineering manager.

The Fennec Alpha 2 release is accompanied by an updated desktop version with support for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The desktop version is designed primarily with third-party extension developers in mind, to make testing easier.

Mozilla says its Windows Mobile build is seeing “great progress,” and work is now also beginning on a Symbian version of the program.

More information as well as download links can be found here.

Mozilla Releases New Version of Fennec Mobile Browser is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mozilla chief executive John Lilly now indicates things are progressing quickly. In a new interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Lilly says:

“We want to make sure that the Web on mobile is more like the Web than what the mobile industry offers today, which is closed, separate networks and not a very good information-getting experience for the user. The first thing is to bring Firefox to mobile devices. We’re working on that, and we’ll see some alphas in a few weeks.”

Fennec’s early versions have been tested with Nokia models, but Mozilla intends to have the browser support multiple platforms by the time it’s ready to roll.

Update: Mozilla Mobile To Hit Alpha Within Weeks is a post from: The Inquisitr

“Fennec is being tested pretty hard now, and by people who love to find bugs,” Mozilla’s Mark Finkle says.

The updated M8 version boasts an updated look that’s still being tweaked:

Other improvements include a new support panel with an add-on manager and download manager; sidebars that slide in and out of view; support for kinetic scrolling; and overall performance enhancements. Features set to debut in future builds include expanded tab capabilities and potential camera input support.

As of now, Fennec is being developed specifically for the Noxia N8x0. Engineers say they’ll start working on other platforms soon.

Mozilla Mobile Reaches New Milestone is a post from: The Inquisitr