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T-Mobile Poland to ship Firefox OS-powered Alcatel One Touch Fire starting tomorrow

Darren Murph
Updated ·4 min read
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We knew good and well it was coming, and now we've both a date and a launch partner to hone in on: that's "tomorrow" and "T-Mobile Poland," respectively. After going big (as opposed to home) at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Mozilla has just announced that the Firefox OS-powered Alcatel One Touch Fire will ship tomorrow in Poland for 1 zloty (practically free, for those curious) in combination with "a very attractive tariff." Market launches in additional European countries will follow in the fall, with German handsets to be marketed via Deutsche Telekom's second brand congstar. DT's subsidiaries in Hungary (Magyar Telekom) and Greece (COSMOTE) will also initiate sales of the handset this fall, but pricing in those regions has yet to be revealed. As for word on a US release via Sprint? Still waiting, sadly.

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European launch of Firefox OS Smartphone at Deutsche Telekom

Jul 11, 2013

Alcatel One Touch Fire with Firefox OS available from July 12 in Poland
Magyar Telekom in Hungary and COSMOTE in Greece to follow this autumn, along with congstar, Telekom Germany's second brand
Mobile Internet for all: smartphones at a smart price

Deutsche Telekom has given the go-ahead for the new mobile Firefox OS and launched sales of the Alcatel One Touch Fire in Europe. This device is one of the first to support the new mobile operating system from Mozilla. T-Mobile Poland will offer the Firefox OS-powered smartphone via its online sales channels already from tomorrow on and from July 15 nationwide in 850 shops. Market launches in further European countries will follow in autumn. In Germany, the phone will be marketed via DT second brand congstar. The company's subsidiaries in Hungary (Magyar Telekom) and Greece (COSMOTE) will also begin sales this autumn.

"Our cooperation with Mozilla once again demonstrates how we at Deutsche Telekom offer our customers innovative products and services ahead of anyone else," explained Claudia Nemat, Board member for Europe and Technology at Deutsche Telekom. "With Firefox OS we are expanding our existing portfolio with a new operating system that is open, developer-friendly and reasonably priced."

Through this launch, DT is bringing an "affordable" smartphone to the market. In Poland, the Alcatel One Touch Fire will be available starting at just 1 zloty (0.23 EUR) in combination with a very attractive tariff. "The mobile Internet is now becoming a reality for everyone", says Christian Stangier, Senior Vice President of Terminal Management at Deutsche Telekom. "With this offer, we're making smartphones affordable for all our customers. We're selling the Firefox phone across all customer segments in Poland." The transparency and variety of Internet services the new operating system has to offer speak volumes about its chances for success. Firefox OS is a developer-friendly system. It accelerates innovative applications and enables better integration of own-brand services and platforms.

Firefox OS uses Internet technologies to create the environment in which all applications and websites are housed: only applications written in established Web languages, particularly HTML 5, are supported. These apps, like telephony, SMS and the address book, for example, come pre-installed. They can be used directly via the integrated adaptive app search or opened in the Firefox browser like websites. DT not only controls strategically relevant system components such as security, but also supplies the technical requirements from the network operator perspective. It coordinates the cooperation with the mobile phone manufacturers, Qualcomm as a chip manufacturer for mobile communication and with international and local providers of Web applications.

Since the project began in 2011, DT has been involved, along with other partners, in the development of the new Firefox operating system for smartphones. In focus: Open standards for mobile operating systems. The aim of the partnership is to create more competition on the market and to give customers more options. With the market launch of the Alcatel One Touch Fire, the first step has been taken.

About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with 133 million mobile customers, 32 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of March 31, 2013). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has 230,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 58.2 billion in the 2012 financial year - more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2012).