Mozilla hasn’t made much progress with its own operating system, but that could all change thanks to its recently announced partnership with Panasonic. The Japanese electronics giant will be bringing Mozilla’s Firefox OS to smart televisions, which may not be big for Panasonic, but it’s definitely a major step forward for Mozilla considering its operating system was previously limited to handsets.
Today Japanese electronics giant Panasonic announced a new deal with Mozilla which brings the browser maker’s mobile OS, Firefox OS, to televisions. Panasonic announced its plans this morning at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show. The first Firefox OS-powered, “Life+Screen 4K Ultra HD Smart TVs” will ship “this spring,” Panasonic says. Although this deal isn’t ground breaking — smart TVs aren’t exactly new territory — it marks a milestone for Mozilla, which originally restricted the use of Firefox OS to handsets. Even more interesting is Mozilla’s apparent plans to use this release as a jumping off point to enter the smart home industry. “For the first time,” Mozilla said in a statement, “these Panasonic TVs powered by Firefox OS will allow TV on-screen notifications from applications, and, in the future, from compatible connected appliances.”