Fennec
Firefox for Mobile (codenamed Fennec) is the name of the build of the Mozilla Firefox web browser for devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
The application versions use the same Gecko layout engine as their personal computer counterparts. For example, version 1.0 used the same engine as Firefox 3.6, and the next release, 4.0, shared core code with Firefox 4.0. Its features include tabbed browsing, password manager, location-aware browsing, and the ability to synchronize with the user's computer Firefox browser using Firefox Sync.
The user interface is completely redesigned for small screen optimization, the controls are hidden away so that only the web content is shown on screen and it uses touchscreen interaction methods in place of dragging actions with a mouse.
Name
The codename used for Firefox for Mobile is Fennec. It comes from the Fennec Fox, a small desert fox (just as the Fennec Browser is a small version of Firefox browser). Firefox for Maemo Beta 5, released in 2009, was the first release to have official Firefox branding, with Firefox name and logo. The browser's version numbering was bumped from version 2.0 to version 4.0 to more closely match desktop releases of Firefox since the rendering engines used in both browsers are the same.
Platforms
It is currently available for Android 2.1 and above devices with an ARMv7 CPU.
Support for the Nokia N900 Maemo device ceased with version 7. An alpha of version 1.1 (1.1 Alpha 1) for Windows Mobile, released on February 19, 2010, is the last build for this operating system.Following the Windows Phone 7 announcement and Microsoft's decision not to release a native development kit, development for Windows Mobile was put on hold. If Microsoft releases a native development kit in the future for its Windows Phone 7 OS, then Mozilla will consider developing Fennec on the Windows Phone platform again.
Mozilla has no plans to develop Firefox for Palm's WebOS, although an unofficial port to WebOS has begun. An unofficial port is also available for the OpenPandora Handheld.
Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe, has said that it's unlikely that an iPhone or a BlackBerry version will be released, citing Apple's non-compete application approval policies[clarification needed] and BlackBerry's limited operating system as the reasons. There are no plans to develop Firefox for the Symbian platform.
While desktop versions are not supported, versions for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux are available; these versions are intended as a way to give people who do not have a supported operating system the ability to localize, experiment and build add-ons
