Sony and Telefonica Team Up, Will Launch Firefox OS Device in 2014

Following the news yesterday that LG and Huawei have committed to launching new smartphones running Mozilla’s Firefox OS platform, Sony today announced it too wants a piece of the HTML5 pie, committing to launching a Firefox OS device in 2014.

The news comes as part of an announcement that Telefonica will offer Sony’s Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z in select markets around the world, but the two mobile companies will also pool resources “to explore the development of a handset” running Firefox OS.

After ditching its own mobile operating systems years ago, then Nokia’s Symbian platform while it was part of Sony Ericsson,  Sony has doubled-down on Android. Despite continued calls for Sony to release a Windows Phone handset, it appears the company is more focused on growing its user base in emerging markets, by developing completely open and affordable devices with little or no restrictions on usage or apps.

Sony becomes the fifth company to commit to Firefox OS behind ZTE, Alcatel and the above-mentioned LG and Huawei.

Bob Ishida, Deputy CEO at Sony, says that the company’s engineers are working with Firefox OS and HTML5, along with operator partners, with the aim to release a device or devices sometime next year.