The Appple iPad is bundled with Safari as the default internet browser and there are a few others, such as Skyfire and Dolphin HD. Mozilla has been eerily absent from the iPad scene with only a single lackluster app available for the iPhone. Today the company announced that it was working on a fully functional alternative due to be launched soon.
Alex Limi of Mozilla in a presentation said that “We wanted to make something entirely new. We wanted to look into how we could reinvent the browser for a new form factor,” he said. He goes so far as to deem Safari for iPad “a miserable experience” all the while acknowledging that it remains the best option available in terms of tablet-based browsing. iOS is a platform where Mozilla has yet to make an impact, he admits. “There are a lot of reasons we should be on iOS even though we can’t bring our rendering engine there.” Ultimately he says Junior was born out of necessity: as of now, Mozilla has “no vehicle on one of the biggest consumer platforms in the world.”
The new browser is a full screen high resolution experience that does away with tabs, an address bar, and clutter on the main screen. There will simply be a back button and progress bar. There will be a number of options available via a small + button that will let you do your common tasks.
It seems that Mozilla is on the right path to making a fully featured browser optimized for the iPad and there is no estimated launch date yet. Check out the video and core features HERE.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
