In Affordable Smartphones, Firefox OS Shines But Nokia's X Phone Strategy Is Murky

One of the major themes I'm hearing here at the Mobile World Congress trade show is that handset makers across the board are focusing on affordable smartphones. Mozilla and its Firefox OS partners seems to be hitting the mark more than others by aligning the user experience they're delivering with the price points they are setting for the phones.

I'm less convinced of Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) strategy of using Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform for its X family of phones, which seems like an awkward fit for a company that has so heavily embraced Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone.

Affordable smartphone announcements are rivaling premium, high-end ones here. I have no doubt that Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S5 or Huawei's Ascend G6 will be bigger hits than any of the Firefox OS phone announced at the show, but there seems to be a concerted effort to go after the cost-conscious smartphone consumer.