Mozilla (News – Alert) has been working on a mobile browser for quite some time and now it appears that they are getting close to launching. It actually seems that the mobile operating system for smartphones is still a few months off, but while there may be a wait we are finally getting a look at the prototype. 

There are quite a few people wondering whether or not the Mozilla operating system will really be able to hang with the Apple (News – Alert) iOS or the Android OS.

If the first screen shots can be believed, it looks as though Mozilla may become as much of an expert on mobile operating systems as they are on Web browsers. Initial reports indicate that the open source Mozilla operating system is going to be good looking enough that it will indeed be able to go toe-to-toe with Android (News – Alert) and iOS. 

The look and feel of the Mozilla OS will actually be an especially stark contest for Android as people not familiar with the subtle differences could mistake the Mozilla OS for Android. 

The best part of this open source operating system is that it is built using HTML5, which means that applications created for the device will also work on most other mobile devices and computers. Built on Mozilla’s "Boot to Gecko" project, the programming language will be adapted so that all of the phone’s applications use HTML5.

Because of the open source features of the operating system, developers should be flocking to Mozilla in order to make any applications they want. Mozilla has always been one that has been a darling of the developer community because of the freedom their API allows. The applications that could be created are seemingly endless, and the best part is Android uses open source and HTML5 for quite a few of its applications as well. That means a great deal of the applications that are already offered for Android would be easily ported over to the Mozilla operating system. 

While there is still some doubt we will be seeing this OS before the spring of 2013, it seems likely that when it does launch it will see great success.

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