How Paid Apps On Firefox OS Will Work 74
An anonymous reader writes "Mozilla has put up a blog post about how building a paid app will work for Firefox OS. The Firefox Marketplace will host web apps, and Mozilla is quick to point out that the apps won't lock you into Firefox OS. They will use the receipt protocol, which other devices can support. If they end up doing so, users could buy the app just once and run it anywhere. 'There is, of course, a chicken vs. egg problem here so Mozilla hopes to be the egg that helps prove out the decentralized receipt concept and iterate on the protocol. Mozilla invites other vendors to help us work on getting receipts right so that paid apps are as portable and "webby" as possible.' Mozilla has a JavaScript API for exposing device receipts, and a client-side library can then contact a verification service URL from the receipt."
Somewhat related: a recent panel at Mobile World Congress consisted of representatives for Firefox OS, Ubuntu for Phones, and Sailfish OS. They spoke about the need for alternatives to Android and iOS, and how manufacturers and carriers actually seem eager to use these new operating systems to differentiate their products
that all actually sounds fairly reasonable (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess there is some advantage to having a nonprofit organization active in this space...
Re:DRM? (Score:2, Insightful)
I imagine you could tie in the purchase token as a means to run the application.
Re:DOA (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean, like the latest Windows mobile offerings, which will be dead in nine months, even with a large infusion of capital?
Re:DOA (Score:3, Insightful)
You're forgetting this is brought to you by the Mozilla Foundation. It's a good feature, you will like it, and if you don't then you'll just have to get used to it because they're going to remove other features you actually use until you do.
Seriously, I'm convinced those clowns would rather run the browser into the ground than admit they made a mistake...
Not so fast (Score:5, Insightful)
"and how manufacturers and carriers actually seem eager to use these new operating systems to differentiate their products"
One of those carriers is NTT DoCoMo. They will introduce a Tizen-equipped smartphone here in Japan in the near future. Win for open source, bully for you, champaigne all around, right?
No. The reason they want to use Tizen is because Android is too open and out of their control. They can't lock down their Android phones more than they already do. They'd effectively have to dump the Google Play store and force people to only use their own curated store instead. But that means losing the other Google apps as well, and most of the apps people are expecting to find. That horse has long left the barn.
With Android, NTT can't control what apps people can download and use; can't impose app-specific restrictions or extra bandwidth charges, and they certainly don't get a cut of the money changing hands for apps and services. They see a future where they just supply the communication pipes, and they are terrified of that.
So, Tizen is their solution: An OS where they can completely lock down the phone, provide you with only the apps available in their app store, and take a hafty cut from both developers and users for the privilege of appearing there. A return to a time where you spent most of your time and all of your money in the provider's walled garden, not out on the open net.
Which is why, for all that I love open source, I will never consider buying such a phone and will never recommend one to anybody. This is a play for closing down the mobile net, not opening it up.