Mozilla has shut down Firefox OS following layoffs of employees that were working as part of the connected devices team, which was the team that was responsible for further development of the platform after Mozilla stopped working on Firefox OS smartphones more than two years ago. While the phones themselves never hit mainstream success and popularity, the software did find its way into some mobile devices, but it was never enough to keep the project going and Mozilla switched things up to move over into using the platform to be the backbone of connected devices products such as TVs, like a 4K Panasonic model that was launched back in 2015 and was shown off at CES that year.
The layoff affects around 50 people total that were part of the Connected Devices team, some of which will reportedly stay within Mozilla after looking for new positions as they’ll be able to apply for new jobs that Mozilla opened up just prior to the layoffs in an effort to make the transitions easier for those who were being affected. Not all of the employees that were let go will be staying at the company, but all affected employees have also received severance pay as well as compensation benefits to assist them during their time looking for a new job.
According to a statement made by Mozilla, the company is moving their focus to emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, and instead of working on releasing products that they plan to bring to market, they’ll be putting their efforts into research and advanced development, though they didn’t mention specifically if they already had something in the works that they were developing or if they had a plan with where to start. Mozilla’s plans though are to research emerging technologies that will be used further down the road as opposed to technologies that will be used in the immediate future. Mozilla’s switch to advanced development of emerging technologies for the long-term should set them up to be working on projects that will be on the cutting edge, which may help them stay relevant for a longer period of time in whatever markets their research takes them.