Mozilla is pulling the plug on its Firefox OS, at least as far as smartphones are concerned. The company announced on Thursday that it would stop providing support for smartphones after the next release of the software in May.

Firefox OS was an attempt, begun about three years ago, to get low-cost smartphones into the hands of millions of consumers in emerging markets. But the idea never really caught on, especially as low-cost Android-powered smartphones stole much of its thunder.

The operating system was built by the Mozilla developer community as an open-source platform and sister project to the Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

“Through the work of hundreds of contributors, we made an awesome push and created an impressive platform in Firefox OS. However, as we announced in December, the circumstances of multiple established operating systems and app ecosystems meant that we were playing catch-up, and the conditions were not there for Mozilla to win on commercial smartphones,” said Mozilla developer George Roter in a blog post.

“We have decided that in order to succeed in the new area of connected devices, we must focus our energy completely on prototyping the future and exploring how we can make the biggest impact in IoT (the Internet of things),” Roter said.

Mozilla will now pivot Firefox OS as a Web platform for IoT. “Let’s remember why we’re doing this: we’re entering this exciting, fragmented space to ensure users have choice through inter-operable, open solutions, and for us to act as their advocates for data privacy and security,” he said.

Roter thanked the developers who “poured” their “hearts” into Firefox OS for smartphones. They proved the Web is “flexible enough to support products from smartphones to TVs”, he said.

“We learnt a tremendous amount about how to partner with other organisations and develop products with our values in a hyper-competitive market. And it also stands as a great starting point to proceed to the next phase of connected devices.” — (c) 2016 NewsCentral Media