“Mozilla and Panasonic will work together to promote Firefox OS and its
open ecosystem. This development aims to deliver more expansive access into
smart TVs by leveraging the HTML5 and Web technologies already prevalent on
PCs, smartphones and Tablets, to offer consumers more personalized and
optimized access to Web and broadcasting content and Web services.”
Excerpt from a Joint Press Release
from Panasonic and Firefox on their partnership to promote Firefox OS as the
platform for Panasonic's Smart TV's
Today’s really exciting for people like me. That’s because today marks
the beginning of CES (Computer Electronics Show) 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada with
a focus on several new areas ranging from Wearable Technology, Robotics, 3D
Printing and Fitness Gadgets as described in “What
mattered on Sunday at CES 2014”, published January 5, 2014 9:57 PM PST by
Nic Healey, CNET News.
CES 2014 is the premier Technology show, the crème de la crème of what cutting edge in Consumer Electronics and
a gentle reminder that you tech’s getting a little stale based on the announced
gadgets thus far as stated in “What
mattered at CES 2014 -- Press day”, published January 6, 2014 7:41 PM PS by
Jennifer Guevin, CNET News.
The noise coming out of CES is at a very high din, but I’ve already begun
to zero in on a few interesting Gadgets and products that I’m serious thinking
of penning a few lines, being as they have some connection to
Telecommunications and they’re just awesome!
Panasonic is going HTML 5 –
Firefox OS is going on Smart TV, Laptops and yes Tablets
On such announcement it that made by Panasonic, who’ve chose CES 2014 to
announce a partnership with the Mozilla Foundation to use Firefox OS to power
their next generation of Smart TV as stated in “Panasonic
Smart TVs to use Mozilla's Firefox OS”, published 06/01/2014 By Rik
Henderson, Pocket-Lint and “Mozilla
Bringing Firefox OS to TVs, Tablets, Desktops”, published 2014-01-06 By
Sean Michael Kerner, eWeek..
This must be very big news for the Jamaica Observer to even make passing
mention of what’s normally a tech show for Americans as noted in “New
software battle coming to smart TVs - More choice and confusion for next
generation of TVs” Published Tuesday January 7, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.
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Panasonic’s leaked announcement came moments after LG had officially
revealed more details of their plans to use WebOS to power their line of Smart
TV as noted in “LG
reveals massive plans for webOS TV platform”, published January 6, 2014
12:57 am By Chris Welch, The Verge and “WebOS
Design Lead Takes Us Through LG’s New Smart TV Platform Ambitions”,
published 06-01-2014 by Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch.
If you’ve been following my blog thus far, you’d remember LG had
purchased WebOS from HP (Hewlett Packard) with an intention to use it in their
Smart TV back in February 2013 just after CES 2013 as reported in my blog article
entitled “LG
Electronics purchases WebOS from HP to develope its line of Internet Connected
TV's - HP's The Great Gatsby as The Wolverine of Streaming TV rises”.
Panasonic isn’t one to rest on their laurels in the fast-moving Television
Industry that has 4K on the horizon and a possible challenge from Apple as
predicted in my blog
article entitled “Apple
to launch TV and a Cloud Gaming Console in 2014 - How the Apple iTV and
Television Set can kill The Grandmaster in the guise of Nintendo, Sony and
Microsoft”.
This is especially true as China has now Lifter their ban on video Games,
a move that may see a flood of Silicon Valley Tech giants proffering Video
Gaming Consoles to the massive Chinese
Market, a market segment that has a close relationship with High Definition
Television sets as predicted in my blog article
entitled “China
lifts 13 Year ban on Video Game Consoles - Open Floodgates spells opportunity
for debutantes Google, Amazon and Apple to enter the Video Game Arena”.
Especially as they’re still recovering from their battles in the Consumer
Electronics world in Japan with Korean LG Electronics and Samsung, with SHARP
getting rescued thus far, all chronicled in my blog article
entitled “Qualcomm,
Intel and Dell to invest in SHARP of Japan - The Rescuers need smartphones, Tablets
and Cash Registers”.
Panasonic’s partnership with the Mozilla Foundation is therefore a
long-term push of Firefox OS and it Open Web Standards on not only TV’s but
also connected devices such as Tablets, Home Entertainment electronics and
possibly Connected Home Appliances as noted in “Panasonic Teams Up
With Mozilla For Firefox OS-Powered Smart TVs & Open Standards” Push,
published 06-01-2014 by Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch.
Mozilla Thrilled at Panasonic
Partnership – Big boost for Open Web and HTML 5 Platforms
Mozilla for their part were thrilled with the partnership, as it means
that Firefox OS which was launched last year at CES 2013 as originally reported
in my blog
article entitled “MWC
2013 reveals Firefox OS & Tizen OS launching Second & Third Quarter
2013 respectively - Samsung's Despicable Me 2 & Mozilla practices The ABC's
of Death” and my Geezam blog article
entitled “Firefox
OS and Telecoms Providers debuts low-budget Alcatel One Touch is now blossoming
beyond just smartphones”.
This much can be extracted from the comments of Dr. Li Gong, Senior Vice
President of Mobile Devices and President of Asia Operations at Mozilla on the
deal quote: We are very excited to partner with Panasonic to bring Firefox OS
to more people on more platforms. As we see more partners supporting Firefox OS
and the open Web, Firefox OS helps solidify open Web standards for smart screen
solutions. This new platform enables developers and service providers to create
a wide range of applications and services to deliver a new user experience. We
see a strong alignment between the visions of Mozilla and Panasonic, and by
combing our collective expertise and know-how, we will create amazing products
together.”
Indeed it’s big.
What this means in layman's terms is that TV's, Tablets and Laptops from
Panasonic will be on the same Ecosystem or common Platform of HTML 5.
Effectively, programs and apps written for one device can be use across the
range of Panasonic's Smart TV devices, making it not only cheaper for Panasonic
to not only make Web Connected TV's but also Gadgets that talk seamlessly
together over the Cloud.
 |
Firefox OS Developers will love this and will result in Mozilla
Foundation gain more support from the Developer community who up until now were
restricted to developing apps for Firefox OS smartphones. They can now create
applications that flexibly tie together Home Entertainment, the Internet, Console
Gaming and potentially Broadcasting.
More exciting is the interface for Panasonic’s Smart TV. Since they' be
written in HTML 5, menus and EPGs (Electronic Program Guide), currently written
as proprietary embedded programs, will be written in HTML5. This means not only
can Developer change them, but they can possibly be modified and rooted like a
smartphone. This helps Developers as well in more way than you can imagine.
Customers are also in for a treat; increased personalization of Services
on the Panasonic Smart TV's, with the TV having the capability to differentiate
between multiple users, much like a Windows OS Login enables separate Login
Accounts.
Interactivity and connectivity of its smart TVs to everything both inside
and outside of the house is apparently Panasonic's main benefit from this
partnership, not to mention avoiding LG Electronics on-up them, to quote Yuki
Kusumi, Director of the TV Business Division of the AVC Networks Company of
Panasonic: “Panasonic had been expanding content and services dedicated for
Panasonic TVs on our own portal site and our collaboration with Mozilla on
Firefox OS will further accelerate various innovations and encourage many new
services,”.
Firefox OS beyond smartphones –
Cloud Based OS competitor to Google Chrome OS
Beyond creating more couch potatoes, this excites me personally as it’s
vindication of my belief in the development of more Mobile Phone OS. Especially
as smartphones are overtaking Feature phone globally according to stats from
Analyst IDC in my blog article
entitled “Analyst
IDC States First Quarter of 2013 Smartphones Shipments finally overtake Feature
Phones - Sub-US$200 Iron Man 3 Smartphones for Developed World Markets”
This suggests that Developing World Countries are now potentially new
Smartphone customer thanks to lower sub-US$200 smartphones and the availability
of VISA Debit Cards such as your Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit
Card or even Payoneer, the Prepaid
Debit Card from MasterCard for e-commerce Purposes as described in my blog article
entitled “Payoneer,
the US based Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card - How E-Commerce MSME's, Online
workers and Reggae or Dancehall Artiste can receive money via Paypal and spend
it in Jamaica”
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Despite the scene being dominated by Google Android and Apple iOS as
noted in my blog
article entitled “Apple
is Top Gun in smartphones Sales but Samsung generates the most Web Traffic -
ComScore Stats for First Quarter of 2013 and StatCounter Stats for June 2012 to
June 2013”, I still hold on to the belief that there’s space out there for
other Operating Systems, both Mobile and PC/Laptop based!
By developing Linux Mobile OS that are supported by a large manufacturer
on the scale of Panasonic, Firefox can potentially go Mainstream on not only
Smart Tv, but everything else aside from smartphones. A worthy cloud-based Google
Chrome OS is thus now a possibility despite other Laptop and PC manufacturers
taking a strong liking to Google Chrome OS as noted in my blog article
entitled “US$299
Acer Chromebook C720P launched as the Second Touchscreen Chromebook -
Affordable Google Pixel Chromebook clone that’s sure to please this Christmas”
Firefox OS on Laptops and Tablets may end up being a worthy competitor to
Google Chrome OS Laptops, riding on the popularity of their Browsers on
/Desktop, which is now at No. 3 Globally as noted in my blog article
entitled “NetMarketShare
Stats shows Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer poised for Growth - Rising Tide
of the Microsoft Surface and Windows 8.1 Tablets in Real-Time”.
First bit or really practical and exciting News to come out of CES 2014
folks! Stay tuned to my blog for more announcements!
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