The alliance formed between Mozilla and Panasonic seems to be really fruitful – their smart TV’s have just been launched in Europe, and in the upcoming months they will also ship to the United States. Fingers are crossed for shipping availability to shift towards globally.
The stock is limited, and it really depends from each European country to another.
The collaboration was announced in January of this year, and 6 smart TV models from Panasonic will feature Mozilla’s Firefox OS:
- CR850
- CR730
- CX800
- CX750
- CX700
- CX680
Models may vary by country.
Mashiro Shinada, the Director of the TV Business Division stated that – “Through our partnership with Mozilla and the openness and flexibility of Firefox OS, we have been able to create a more user friendly and customizable TV UI. This allows us to provide a better user experience for our consumers providing a differentiator in the Smart TV market.”
The Linux-based OS will be featured on some of the top notch smart TV’s available. Let’s take the Viera TX-50CX700B – a 50-inch, 4k Ultra HD TV with 3D capability. As you might wonder, it is indeed really expensive, and it has been seen at the price of $1570.
Firefox OS has first seen the light of day on tablets and smartphones – read more about their partnership with Orange on African soil in our very own article.
It’s going to be tough for Mozilla to break-in the smartphone marketplace which is dominated by Google’s Android, and Apple’s iOS, but when it comes down to smart TV’s there is no king of the hill, no knight in shining armour. Firefox OS has a really great chance on garnering customer loyalty, but it seriously depends on the quality they are offering along with Panasonic – and most importantly what kind of apps will the Linux-based OS run.
It does lack apps, but luckily, even though Mozilla has just breached smart TV domain, Netflix, and YouTube have already developed their official apps.
Mozilla states that it made it easy, and it’s continuing to make it easier, for developers that wish to port their creations to their OS.
You can read more about Mozilla’s partnership with Panasonic on Mozilla’s official blog.
