With the launch of Google Chrome and Chrome OS, Mozilla and Firefox are knee deep exploring alternative business models, ones that don’t rely on Google.
At the Add-on-Con conference, Add-ons product manager Justin Scott announced that Mozilla would be opening a marketplace of some sort for firefox add-ons in 2010.
Conference host Robert Reich and founder of the real-time search app OneRiot squeezed an answer out of Scott:
“We’ll probably be doing a marketplace pilot in 2010,” he said.
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He also debated the topic in earlier panel. “We don’t get enough feedback from consumers who would actually be buying these add-ons,” he said. “We haven’t really brought it up for discussion among them yet. But from what we hear, developers all want a store. But we’re not really sure how consumers feel about it.”
As you will know, Mozilla already has a site devoted to its Firefox addons but nothing allowing Firefox addons to be purchased. Users can donate, but that’s it. Of course, if this were to go ahead, it would bein great contrast to Mozilla’s open source values but with Google going it on their own, the Mountain View organisation might have little choice.
via The Register
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