Panasonic's Firefox OS-based HDTVs have arrived--in Europe, anyway

18.05.2015
If you've been waiting for one of Panasonic's Firefox OS-based HDTVs and live in Europe, you're in luck: As the Mozilla Blog noted late last week, Panasonic Viera TVs running Firefox OS are now available for purchase in Europe.

Panasonic released six models running Mozilla's OS--the CR850, CR730, CX800, CX750, CX700 and CX680--but pricing and availability will vary depending on which country you live in. Panasonic first announced its plans to make a Firefox-based HDTV back at CES 2014, and showed off the fruits of the partnership earlier this year.

Although the TVs are out now in Europe, the rest of us have to wait a while longer: Mozilla says the TVs "will be available worldwide in the coming months."

Why this matters: As VentureBeat points out, the world has not been quick to pick up on Firefox OS, and Firefox-based devices barely register in a smartphone world dominated by Android and iOS. (Part of the reason for this, of course, is the fact that Firefox OS-based phones won't arrive in developed markets like the US until next year.) By making the jump to smart TVs, Firefox OS now has another avenue to take to gain relevance, even though you might not know that it's running under the hood. 

(www.techhive.com)

Nick Mediati