Well known, not for profit Mozilla, creator of the Firefox browser, is reported to have decided to take on the big boys – Android, Microsoft and so on. Mozilla is developing its own smartphone software.

Mozilla Firefox is open source software, which means it is free to download and use; however, the application has been criticised as being unstable and many former users switched to using Opera or returned to traditional paid for browsers.

So why is Mozilla doing this now? It seems that market share is falling for its desktop browser, so the organisation wants to make a mark on the mobile technology market instead.

Ian Fogg, a mobile analyst, said: “A lot of the innovation, or even most of it, that we’re seeing now is happening in smartphones and tablets.”

It appears Mozilla wants to be part of this before it is too late; however, as a third party application, Firefox has found that only Google’s Android platform allows it to be installed properly on devices.

Microsoft and Apple have stricter rules where third party applications are concerned and it is likely that the software will only be available on smartphones that run Android.

Despite potential problems, however, Mozilla does have the support of a number of networks, including Deutsche Telekom, Sprint, Etisalat and Telefónica.

Mr Fogg continued: “The operators want there to be competition in smartphones. They don’t want a world where Apple and Google dominate everything.”

Can Mozilla break through this stranglehold Apple and Google currently have? Possibly, but it will be difficult.