I directly downloaded and installed Mozilla’s latest browser on my Google Nexus One, which Mozilla says the client is optimized for; it should run on any device running Android 2.0 or better. You can find the direct .apk download link for Andoid devices here. Like my first impressions of an earlier version, I’m impressed by what I see. The performance isn’t where it needs to be just yet for everyday use — I noticed some lagginess when zooming or page rendering, for example — but I expect it to improve as the browser moves out of alpha status in the future. However, I’m finding value in the use of virtual real estate as the main browser slides left or right to review open tabs, bookmarks and settings.

Of greater importance for folks that use Firefox on the desktop, however, is the integrated Firefox Sync feature. While I don’t typically use Firefox, I tested the synchronization between desktop and mobile browser and it works as advertised. Aside from the obvious benefit of centralized bookmarks, passwords and browsing history, it’s nice to walk away from the desktop and pick up the same sites with a smartphone just minutes later. Mozilla’s competitors realize that sync is important, too; just look at Google’s recently introduced Chrome-to-Phone extension, and the addition of sync to Google Chrome.

Also improved in Fennec is the performance architecture, which I noticed when editing a Google Doc on my handset. Such an activity is near impossible on most other mobile browsers today, but can be done in Fennec because the browser is built on Firefox 4 technology. Here’s what Mozilla says makes the experience more enjoyable:

The main focus of this release is to increase performance and responsiveness to user actions. This is being implemented using two major technologies, “Electrolysis” and “Layers.” This Alpha release includes Electrolysis, which allows the browser interface to run in a separate process from the one rendering Web content. By doing this, Fennec is able to react much faster to user input while pages are loading or CPU intensive JavaScript is running.

As I said, general performance isn’t up to par just yet, but I see a marked improvement when interacting with a Google Doc, which positions Fennec well for future web apps built with HMTL 5 and JavaScript. For now, I’ll stick with the native Android browser and Chrome on my desktop, but if Mozilla keeps improving Fennec, I have a difficult decision to make  in the future. That’s exactly what Mozilla is hoping for: more users for both its desktop and mobile browser for a seamless experience regardless of location.

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I directly downloaded and installed Mozilla’s latest browser on my Google Nexus One, which Mozilla says the client is optimized for; it should run on any device running Android 2.0 or better. You can find the direct .apk download link for Andoid devices here. Like my first impressions of an earlier version, I’m impressed by what I see. The performance isn’t where it needs to be just yet for everyday use — I noticed some lagginess when zooming or page rendering, for example — but I expect it to improve as the browser moves out of alpha status in the future. However, I’m finding value in the use of virtual real estate as the main browser slides left or right to review open tabs, bookmarks and settings.

Of greater importance for folks that use Firefox on the desktop, however, is the integrated Firefox Sync feature. While I don’t typically use Firefox, I tested the synchronization between desktop and mobile browser and it works as advertised. Aside from the obvious benefit of centralized bookmarks, passwords and browsing history, it’s nice to walk away from the desktop and pick up the same sites with a smartphone just minutes later. Mozilla’s competitors realize that sync is important, too; just look at Google’s recently introduced Chrome-to-Phone extension, and the addition of sync to Google Chrome.

Also improved in Fennec is the performance architecture, which I noticed when editing a Google Doc on my handset. Such an activity is near impossible on most other mobile browsers today, but can be done in Fennec because the browser is built on Firefox 4 technology. Here’s what Mozilla says makes the experience more enjoyable:

The main focus of this release is to increase performance and responsiveness to user actions. This is being implemented using two major technologies, “Electrolysis” and “Layers.” This Alpha release includes Electrolysis, which allows the browser interface to run in a separate process from the one rendering Web content. By doing this, Fennec is able to react much faster to user input while pages are loading or CPU intensive JavaScript is running.

As I said, general performance isn’t up to par just yet, but I see a marked improvement when interacting with a Google Doc, which positions Fennec well for future web apps built with HMTL 5 and JavaScript. For now, I’ll stick with the native Android browser and Chrome on my desktop, but if Mozilla keeps improving Fennec, I have a difficult decision to make  in the future. That’s exactly what Mozilla is hoping for: more users for both its desktop and mobile browser for a seamless experience regardless of location.

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Why an alternative browser, though, when the stock Google web browser is already quite good? In a word: Weave. Mozilla’s Weave project synchronizes browsing data between desktop and mobile — bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history and even open tabs. Using Weave, for example, you could have several tabs open on your desktop in Firefox, walk away, open Firefox on a phone and see the same tabs appear. Google offers a similar feature with its Chrome browser, but Mozilla’s implementation is farther along in the handset space.

I haven’t taken Weave for a spin on Android since it’s highly experimental, but I did use the browser for a bit this morning. For those not familiar with Fennec on a smartphone, Mozilla leverages off-screen space to control bookmarks, open tabs and settings. You can slide the main browsing page left or right to see the controls, which provides access to advanced features on the small screen without cluttering up the browsing experience — a clever implementation that you can see in my screen captures below. There’s currently no support for multitouch zooming or Adobe Flash, however. Fennec on the Nokia N900 originally included support for a Flash plug-in, but Mozilla later pulled it, saying, “The performance of the plugin didn’t meet our standards.”

In this early stage, I wouldn’t recommend that anyone use Fennec as a full-time browser — nor does Mozilla. The code isn’t optimized and performance is sluggish. And this first version requires a phone with some higher-end horsepower — it only works on Android 2.0 devices and up, for example. But it does show promise and if Mozilla can gain traction on the phone with its browser, it could keep more people using Firefox on the desktop thanks to the Weave experience.

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Stepping back for a second, where does this move put Mozilla and their open source approach? Instead of focusing on browsers for closed or controlled ecosystems like Apple’s — and so far with Windows Phone 7, like Microsoft’s — the project effort will focus on Android and Maemo, just as Om predicted late last year on GigaOm. Both platforms embrace the open source path that Mozilla follows. Google introduced an NDK last year and since Mozilla programs Firefox in C/C++, the NDKs support the code base. Prior to Google’s release of an NDK, Mozilla would have had to create the browser in Java. Had they done that successfully, we might have seen it on Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform, but that never happened — and it’s unlikely that it ever will. There isn’t an NDK that I know of for the Maemo platform, but according to the SDK licensing agreement, some closed Nokia code, functions and binaries. And Maemo is built upon Linux rather than an a closed, proprietary platform.

So where does this leave Mozilla, and other open source vendors, in the mobile market? Until Microsoft releases a Native Development Kit — and there’s no guarantee they will — Mozilla doesn’t have many choices left. It could take the same approach that Opera is trying and attempt to get a browser through the iTunes App Store approval process. I don’t foresee that happening for Opera, which just submitted their browser application for approval. Like many of us, Mozilla will likely be watching to see how that situation pans out. That rules out the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 platforms for now. And unless or until RIM radically alters the BlackBerry platform, they’re not a potential development target either. Palm now offers a PDK, or Plug-In Development Kit, that supports C and C++, but I don’t expect Mozilla to focus on webOS given Palm’s current struggles.

There’s simply nowhere else for Mozilla to turn in the mobile space, given the constraints and the way it wants to code. From a bigger picture perspective, I’m wondering how the situation impacts open source development in general when it comes to the mobile market. There’s a significant number of Linux-based phones available, but they’re not on a common platform. With the bigger players either using or moving towards more closed systems, what’s an open source developer to do? I’m not a coder, so I’d love to hear thoughts from developers. Is the Mozilla situation unique and not a sign of things to come or are you generally concerned with the way the mobile landscape is shifting?

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Last month saw the release of Firefox Mobile for Maemo, but without many devices to take advantage of it, people are wondering which platform will be the next one to see Mozilla’s browser. Windows Mobile has long had an alpha build of Firefox Mobile, but it hasn’t seen much updating in the past year or so. And with Microsoft making a clean break with Windows Mobile 7, that puts the Mozilla folks in a bit of pickle. Do they continue work on the existing alpha for Windows Mobile 6.x and lower or does the development team bide their time and start with Windows Phone 7?

While waiting for an answer to that question, the obvious alternative is looking like Firefox Mobile for Android. And even though we’ve seen some early porting progress on the Android front, it could be a while before a finished product arrives. It’s likely to happen this year, according to Jay Sullivan, Mozilla’s VP of mobiles. During Mobile World Congress, he explained to TechRadar that Android is a “modern OS, and it’s a great fit with us. It’s the type of platform that has a high affinity with the early adopter, and it’s seen a lot of uptake.” Part of the holdup for Firefox Mobile on Android is the different code base — Android is built on Java while Firefox Mobile is developed in the C and C++ languages, says Sullivan. Now that the Open Handset Alliance supports native C and C++ code in the NDK, Mozilla can move forward on the Android front.

Coding platforms aside, at the end of the day I wonder how many Android handset owners will consider moving to Mozilla for browsing when the time comes. I don’t see Google stopping the availability of a competing browser, but I do expect to see the Android browser mature by the time Mozilla delivers. The main advantages of a Mobile Firefox version is in the extensions, plug-ins and desktop synchronization. Google has already made good progress on the last front with its Chrome browser and Bookmark Sync — news today hit that even more data will be synchronized in the future. Might Google be able to offer some, if not all, of those other features on the native Android browser before the year is out? I know we have a large contingent of Firefox fans — jkOnTheRun readers use Firefox more than any other browser — so is this development something you’re eagerly awaiting or is it just another browsing option you’ll check out on an Android handset?

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Firefox for Maemo, which was released earlier this week, offers some undeniably cool features for Nokia’s new mobile operating system. The browser includes Weave, a tool that syncs bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history and open browser tabs with your PC, effectively minimizing the keystrokes that can be such a hassle on a phone. And Fennec, as the mobile browser is dubbed, enables users to choose from about 40 other browser add-ons, including an ad blocker and a YouTube interface.

Those add-ons provide an impressive level of personalization, and they underscore the role that the browsers may eventually fill as a unifying force in the increasingly complex world of smartphone platforms. But the strategy contrasts with the OS-specific model pursued by Apple and a host of others. Even Google — whose business is the web — has followed in Apple’s footsteps with its Android OS and related app store, Android Market.

For Mozilla to help reshape that paradigm, it will need to create a mobile footprint to match its presence on PCs, where it claims a 24 percent market share — and that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Nokia’s Maemo is on a tiny fraction of mobile phones, and while a Windows Mobile version of the Fennec browser is in production, the browser is incompatible with BlackBerry OS and would likely be banned from Apple’s App Store. That’s why Mozilla’s best near-term hope for traction in mobile lies in an Android version that is expected to follow the Windows Mobile offering.

If Fennec is a hit with Android users, Mozilla could help mobile evolve beyond a landscape of OS-specific applications and toward a more PC-like environment where apps are largely web-based. That’s a very attractive scenario for developers who have long had to build a different version of each app for each mobile platform, but it’s also a long way off.

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Screenshot image courtesy Mozilla.

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Your mobile browser is always with you, can get your attention with an alert, and knows your location. Firefox can already make use of those features and aspects, and Mozilla VP Mobile Jay Sullivan says the company is working on support for multitouch, haptic feedback and process separation. Beyond making use of added inputs and user behaviors, there’s also the opportunity to creatively improve the usability of the incredibly constrained mobile browsing experience.

Already there are about 40 mobile Firefox add-ons. True, they’re a bit rough around the edges and quite similar to what’s already available on the PC, but some of them are pretty cool. Here are the most interesting so far:

• First and probably most important is Mozilla’s Weave Sync, which connects your Firefox history, bookmarks and open tabs from your PC to your phone. So when you load up Firefox on mobile, you can leave off right where you were when you were at the office. If you type a few letters into the URL bar, it knows from experience where you’re most likely to want go.It’s not hard to imagine how useful this could be; a continuous personalized experience just makes sense. However, early adopters beware; current reviews of the add-on are mixed.
• Are you the kind of person who loses your phone often? Meet FireFound. Every time your phone changes location, it will send its coordinates to a server. If your phone ever gets stolen or misplaced, you can log in and see where it is. What’s more, you can even clear all the personal data saved in your browser remotely.
• There are already a couple of add-ons to help you deal with fat-fingered input on your miniature keyboard or touchscreen. Lazy Click applies clicks to the nearest clickable object, and URL Fixer fixes common typos, like .cmo for .com. There’s also an experimental add-on called Fennec Gestures that shows how a user might be able to control their browser with gestures (see video demo).
• Using mobile web pages really blows sometimes, but here are a few add-ons to ease the pain: AutoPager automatically loads the next page when you get to the bottom of one; Fastest Scroll in the West makes skimming long pages quicker; and Mobilize helps you switch to mobile versions of sites, if they exist.
• If you’re a frequent tweeter, you might install TwitterBar to update Twitter directly from the Firefox address bar. The add-on puts a Twitter icon in the bar, which you can click on to tweet or hover over to see how many characters you have left. There’s also a similar add-on for Identi.ca. Both are available for regular Firefox, but you can see how much more useful they would be on a tiny handset screen.
• There are a couple of early geo add-ons, too. GeoGuide loads up map, pictures, weather, events and Wikipedia entries based on where you are. Near Me uses your location to do a search of local businesses.

P.S. At least three of these add-ons were made by Minnesota developer Chris Finke in his spare time, which is pretty darn impressive.

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Meanwhile, the web browser in Android is considered to be excellent, and is often compared to Mobile Safari on the iPhone. But competition is always a good thing, so it’s welcome news this week that both Opera Mobile and Mobile Fennec (Firefox) are coming to Android. Opera Mobile has long been considered to be an outstanding mobile browser, and is even included as the default browser on Windows Mobile phones produced by HTC. Mobile Firefox is currently in beta testing on the Windows Mobile platform, with Android support expected to begin next year.

Plus, the Droid Eris has been available on Verizon only for a short while, but the carrier has already issued an update this week to address a number of bugs. The update, which is currently being pushed out to phones, improves the handling of text messaging and other issues that owners had reported. To obtain the update, consumers must wait until their phone indicates an update is available for download.

Also this week, T-Mobile in the U. S. is rolling out an update to the Android Market that supports charging apps to a customer’s phone account. Until now, purchasing apps in the Android Market has always required a credit card. The update is invisible to the user and is being pushed out in phases. To determine if your Market app has been updated, check the version number in the Manage Applications setting. Any version higher than 1660 contains the new feature.

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Mozilla’s success on the desktop is well documented. Firefox is closing in on a 25 percent market share in the computer browser space, according to the web measurement firm Net Applications, and continues to chisel away at the dominance of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But as the browser game has expanded beyond traditional computers into smartphones and other mobile devices, Firefox has largely been left behind. While Fennec is currently available in beta for Nokia Maemo devices and in alpha for Windows Mobile, the open-source project WebKit dominates the wireless space, powering browsers for superphones such as Apple’s iPhone, Palm’s Pre as well as Android-based handsets.

To be sure, there’s a lot to like about Fennec, which — in a nod to its bigger, PC-centric brother — borrows its name from a small Saharan fox. Fennec leverages the touchscreen functionality that has become a must-have feature for many mobile users, it enables users to sync with Firefox via Mozilla Weave, and it uses the same version of the Gecko layout engine used by Firefox 3.6. But the first full version of Fennec will run on Nokia’s N900, an impressive but pricey piece of hardware that targets a very small market of big-spending early adopters. Mozilla is set to release a version for Windows Mobile next year, providing access to a mere 11 additional percent of the smartphone market. A version for Android-based handsets will follow

Apple is unlikely to make Fennec available through its App Store, of course, and Mozilla hasn’t announced any plans to developer a version for RIM’s BlackBerry OS. So while Maemo’s long-term prospects may be bright, the OS isn’t likely to make much of a dint in the smartphone market anytime soon. Meanwhile, carriers and manufacturers around the world are joining the Android craze. So the sooner Mozilla can churn out a full version of Fennec for Android users, the better its chances of recreating its desktop success in mobile.

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Birthing Voice Mashups — Jaduka, which has been an influential young company in the VoIP arena, offers open APIs that facilitate many of the “voice mashups” — voice, data and applications that are combined to create new services — appearing on the web. You can find out more about Jaduka here.

Android On the Desktop — Check out Cloud Telecomputers’ desktop VoIP phone based on the open-source Android OS. The touchscreen device runs on an open development platform called Glass, which former Motorola CEO Ed Zander has said “all business phones will look like” in 3-5 years — with Android at the core. Cloud Telecomputers is targeting OEMs that want to design around its hardware and software platform.

Central Communications Hub — Asterisk is an extremely powerful open-source telephony engine and platform that is especially popular with small businesses trying to keep communication costs down. It’s a full-blown PBX that includes call waiting, caller ID, distinctive ring, text-to-speech recognition and more. Businesses can also get subscription support for it.

Skype Meets Asterisk — Speaking of Asterisk, Digium, the company behind it, recently announced the availability of Skype for Asterisk. With the new download, Asterisk users can call landlines, cellular devices and other Skype users, right from any Asterisk-based phone. Cool, and another example of Skype’s focus on all aspects of business telephony.

See Me, Hear Me — Linphone is a free VoIP app for Windows and Linux that includes instant messaging capabilities and works with almost any web camera for either audio or video conferencing. It complies with the SIP protocol, an open standard for online telephony, and interoperates with most SIP-compatible phones and proxies.

Kissing Cousins — Open-Xchange and Racksoft recently announced a partnership that combines Open-Xchange’s open-source groupware with Racksoft’s telephony products. The combined solutions they’re working on could make conference calls, desktop calendars and mobile calendars work together seamlessly.

A Small Fox — Fennec, Mozilla’s mobile version of the open-source browser Firefox , is now out in an advanced beta that works on several platforms, and is native in Nokia’s new N900 device. Fennec is loaded with numerous imaginative user interface implementations, and is slated to work with many of the more useful Firefox extensions. Download it for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux here.

No Name, No Trail — Many people use the open-source application Tor on the desktop for anonymous browsing sessions. Thanks to a grant from the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center Mobile Challenge and the people behind The Guardian Project, now Android mobile phone owners can use it to do the same.  You can find the links you need to get going here.

This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com.

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