Helsinki: Several telecom companies have been supporting Mozilla Firfox internet browser, turning up the competition on Google and Apple in the smartphone market Firfox OS is coming to smartphone in 2013.

Four months ago at MWC 2012, Mozilla has first unveiled its plans to create a HTML 5-based, open source mobile operating system. On Monday, Mozilla said that several telecom companies like Telenor, Etisalat, Deutsche Telekom, Sprint, Smart and Telecom Italia are supporting the Firefox platform.

"Phone makers ZTE and TCL Communication Technology will roll out the first Firefox OS phones using Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors in early 2013." said Netscape.

Where Apple, Google, Samsung and other smartphone companies are competing for the share of mobile software in the market. Gary Kovacs, chief executive of Mozilla Corp, said he was confident there was room on the market for a Firefox platform, being an open Web-based alternative to the for-profit offerings from Google and Apple.

Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight said. "Success for any platform is dependent on the virtuous circle of scale and momentum. Manufacturer and operator commitment is essential to driving developer support and consumer interest which in turn strengthens demand for the platform,"

Ovum analyst Nick Dillon said,"Pricing of the devices will be the key for their success." He questioned whether cutting out some layers of operating system would bring significant savings.

"It is hard to see how you could make them much cheaper than comparable Android handsets," Dillon said.