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Mozilla scouts HTML5 apps for porting, puts more Keon phones up for grabs

If you can port an app to Firefox OS by October, Mozilla has more Keon Firefox OS developer phones for you.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

Mozilla is offering more Firefox OS devices to developers that want to port their HTML5 app to the platform.

On Wednesday, Mozilla launched a campaign aimed at quickly filling up the Firefox OS Marketplace using existing HTML5 apps that haven't yet made it to its app store, by offering developers new hardware to test ported apps on.

The new porting campaign follows a similar appeal in May that was open to both builders (anyone with an idea and the skills to develop it) and those with an already published app ready to port.

However, given that the first few Firefox OS devices have already trickled out, the new campaign is just for developers who have published apps and reckon they can complete the port by September or October.

So, like in the earlier campaign, developers can get their hands on a Keon Firefox OS developer phone from Geeksphone if they've got an HTML5 app ready to go. However, Mozilla is only accepting applications to join the program from those who can show a URL for a website, a code repository, or an app platform such as Amazon Web Apps, Blackberry WebWorks, Chrome Web Store, webOS, or the PhoneGap store. Hybrid HMLT5 apps in a native skin are also accepted, as along as developers say which tools they used in the build.

"If you can't point us to a live HTML5 app, you will not be eligible for this program," Mozilla adds on its Hacks blog. Native apps are not eligible either, Mozilla said.

Chinese handset maker ZTE sold out of Firefox OS devices recently after releasing several thousand of its ZTE Open handsets for around $80 in the UK and US. Meanwhile, Telefonica has begun offering the device in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia, while Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Congstar will begin selling Alcatel's One Touch Fire in some European markets beginning in October. Telenor also expects to launch Firefox OS smartphones in Central and Eastern Europe later this year. 

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