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Mobile Firefox One Step Closer to Release

Start getting used to the word "Fennec." It's the code name for the alpha release of Mozilla's mobile Firefox browser. According to reports, it will be surfacing next week.

Looks like Mozilla is taking care of its own first. If you want to get your hands on the alpha release of mobile Firefox, you'd better already be a member of the Mozilla Club, so to speak. The newest mobile browser will first be available only for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, which runs a proprietary open source platform based on Linux.

This initial version of the browser will be an alpha alpha release. PC World reports that Mozilla's VP of mobile, Jay Sullivan, said there will be several versions of the alpha provided to the Mozilla community over the coming months. It won't reach a beta state until sometime next year.

Will it be available for any other platforms? You betcha. Windows Mobile will get a version of the browser, too, though there is no word if it will get an alpha version or a beta version of the mobile browser. There was no word at all whether or not other platforms, such as Symbian, will get alpha or beta versions of Firefox for Mobile.

By releasing it to the developers, Mozilla will find out soon enough where the browser's faults are, and will have a good opportunity to receive feedback from those most likely to adopt the browser in the future.

Fennec relies on the same backbone that the regular version of Firefox does, which is an HTML rendering engine called Gekko. It will support JavaScript and Ajax as well.

Looks like I won't make the cut to be an alpha tester, but I am very much looking forward to the eventual beta of Firefox for mobile.

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