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Mozilla Announces Platform-Independent App Store By Barry Levine February 23, 2012 5:20PM     The Marketplace is one component of the new Mozilla Web App platform. The Marketplace will be open for developers' submissions at the Mobile World Congress next week, and will be accessible to consumers and businesses later this year. App categories in Mozilla Marketplace will include games, media, music, productivity and other areas.   Related Topics Mozilla Applications Apps B2G HTML5 Mobile World Congress Latest News Iran Hackers Target U.S. Energy Firms 7 ways To Not 'Screw Up' Tumblr Customer Service a Spectator Sport HP Profit Falls, But Outlook Soars Lenovo Soars Amid PC Industry Slump A marketplace with apps for a variety of platforms. That's the vision of a new Mozilla Marketplace, announced Thursday by the non-profit maker of the Firefox browser. The apps available in the new Marketplace will not be platform-specific, as those in Apple's iTunes App Store or Google's Android Market are. Rather, it will feature apps that use open Web technologies, such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS and Mozilla-proposed Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for rich media apps. The organization said that users will be able to purchase an app once, and then use it on any HTML5-enabled device , across operating systems. 'Biggest Playing Field Imaginable' "We are enabling the Web to be the marketplace, giving developers the opportunity to play on the biggest playing field imaginable," said Mozilla Chief of Innovation Todd Simpson, in a statement. In Mozilla's approach, the Web itself becomes the platform. The "write once, deploy everywhere" vision has been tried more than once before, such as with Java-coded client applications and Web-based hosted applications. Mozilla said that its approach will provide open and flexible billing options, and that the use of Web standards will "massively reduce the cost of creating, versioning and maintaining applications." Both Apple and Google have been backers of HTML5 technologies, but have so far avoided creating a venue for apps to run on others' platforms. The Marketplace is one component of the new Mozilla Web App platform. It will be open for developers' submissions at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, and will be accessible to consumers and businesses later this year. Categories will include games, media, music, productivity and other areas. The other two major components are proposed APIs, and a new identity system. The APIs will be submitted to the W3C standards body for approval, and the identity system is intended to tie apps to users, not to devices or platforms. Boot to Gecko The identity system, named BrowserID, will provide an open credential system that is not allied with those from Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter or others. A key difference is that users would not need to share their data with other sites or services just to log on or to click a "Like" button. While Mozilla is creating a venue for any standards-compliant platform, it is also getting into the platform arena itself. Its open mobile operating system for smartphones and tablets, called Boot to Gecko or B2G, is expected to be shown soon. Gecko refers to the rendering engine in Firefox, which will also drive B2G. B2G, being open source like Google's popular Android OS, is being compared to that platform. But industry observers are noting that B2G will have modular layers, with a low-level kernel, a rendering engine, and a user interface, any of which can be used -- or not -- by developers. Mozilla has indicated that an unnamed OEM will be demonstrating B2G on a demo device, with a custom interface, at the Mobile World Congress.   Tell Us What You Think Comment: Name: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Redefine the way you do business by analyzing market trends, increasing conversion, and creating customer loyalty through Microsoft Dynamics. Unlock your potential through real-time CRM solutions in sales, marketing, and customer service to help your business become more dynamic than ever before.  Linux/Open Source 1.   Android Extends Its World Dominance 2.   Google Pursuing Android-Chrome Plan 3.   Firefox OS To Also Go for High End 4.   Mozilla: Spyware Posing as Firefox 5.   Newest Ubuntu Faster, More Polished Firefox OS To Also Go for High End First premium phone coming from Sony. Average Rating: Newest Ubuntu Faster, More Polished Designed to run on lightweight devices. Average Rating: Google Pursuing Android-Chrome Plan Mobile OS chief following dual strategy. Average Rating:

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Enterprise Hardware Spotlight

Lenovo Sales Soar Amid PC Industry Slump Computer maker Lenovo says its latest quarterly profit rose 90 percent as sales of smartphones and mobile computing technology expanded, amid a decline in desktop and laptop PC sales.   Newest HP PCs Aim for Flexibility, Mobility Hewlett-Packard is hoping its latest PC innovations will revive buyer interest. The new Envy Rove20 is HP's first mobile all-in-one PC, complete with a built-in battery and touch technology.   Dell Kills Its Public Cloud Effort, Will Offer Partner Marketplace Putting the kibosh on its efforts to build out a public cloud, Dell has announced a new program to offer a choice of cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service through a central marketplace of partners.

Mobile Enterprise Spotlight

Google, Facebook Reported in Talks To Buy Waze There's a bidding war going on over a crowd-sourced map application provider. Or so the rumor mill says. Credible sources are pointing to a competition between Google and Facebook for Waze.   Viva Movil! Buy a Phone from J.Lo Latina pop sensation and entrepreneur Jennifer Lopez is teaming with Verizon Wireless on a new 4G LTE network and wireless service dubbed Viva Movil by Jennifer Lopez, aimed at the U.S. Latino market.   Samsung Sells 10 Million Galaxy S IVs -- Four Every Second The new Galaxy S IV smartphone from Samsung is off to a strong start. The South Korean manufacturer has announced that global sales for the device have exceeded 10 million units in one month.

Enterprise Technology Spotlight

Newest HP PCs Aim for Flexibility, Mobility Hewlett-Packard is hoping its latest PC innovations will revive buyer interest. The new Envy Rove20 is HP's first mobile all-in-one PC, complete with a built-in battery and touch technology.   New Nvidia Chip Boosts Citrix Graphics for Remote Workers The latest Nvidia Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) promises to boost remote graphics sharing through the Citrix remote desktop service. The new chip delivers better graphics for remote workers.   Security Alert: Beware of Tiffany Trojan on the Attack Malware writers are using a luxury name to hack your PC. Security watchdog Sophos reports e-mails appearing to be from Tiffany.com carry an attachment that can install a malicious Trojan on your PC.

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