The Mozilla Foundation is working to adapt the Firefox browser to mobile devices, such as Linux-based phones, according to an APCMag interview with Mozilla CEO Winifred “Mitchell” Baker. Baker said the company is also investigating mobile content services with a server component, similar to Opera Mini.

The APCMag interview with Baker runs more than 8,000 words, on topics that range from Firefox pre-history to “Web 3.0.” One of the interview's 12 pages is devoted to Firefox on mobile devices, however.

Baker reportedly said that Firefox will need to run on devices, in order for the Mozilla Foundation to “live the kind of vision that we helped grow.” However, Baker called porting Firefox to devices a “long-term move.” She reportedly said that the organization has begun to tune its core technology to mobile devices, but that it “will take a while.”

Baker went on to discuss “Joey,” an experiment that aims to “take information that people like to access, and deliver it to a mobile device.” Her comments suggest it could have a server component that pre-formats content, similar to Opera Mini or Motorola (formerly Good's) browser technology. She emphasizes that Joey is an experiment, rather than a product strategy for the mobile sphere, however.

The section on mobile devices concludes with a discussion about footprint, in which Baker admits that Firefox's Gecko rendering engine may be larger than alternatives, such as Apple WebKit, while also bundling more core functionality, such as extensions and XUL. She reportedly said that all browsers for mobile devices, Opera included, offer only subsets of full desktop browser functionality.

The full interview can be found here. Baker's comments on a mobile version of Firefox are on page three, here.

The Mozilla Foundation was formed in July of 2003, and brought out Firefox (formerly Firefird) in Feb. of 2004. The browser is now second only to Microsoft's Internet Explorer in popularity.

 
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