Mozilla's $25 Firefox OS Phones Look To Score In India

The alternative to Android and iOS is geared for low-budget markets, and it's about to hit one of the biggest in the world. Will that price tag light a fire?

Firefox OS, Mozilla's ambitious attempt to establish a more open mobile operating system than Google's Android or Apple's iOS, is about to hit one of its biggest potential markets: India. Two Indian companies, Intex and Spice, will build a super-cheap $25 Firefox OS phone based on a processor from Chinese company Spreadtrum and start selling them in the next few months.

"The platform will give us an edge in upgrading buyers from feature phones to smartphones while making it affordable for the mass market," said Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, head of Intex's mobile business, in a statement. Mozilla, a nonprofit organization committed to an open Web, announced the India move on Tuesday night in conjunction with the Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai this week...