First batch of Firefox phones sell out in U.S., U.K.
It's a sellout for the eBay-only ZTE Open smartphone, a first, tentative stab at bringing the Firefox OS to the American and British markets.
The ambitious Firefox phone may face a long, uphill road to success, but the first batch of phones up for grabs in the U.S. and U.K. has sold out after its first weekend of availability.
Less than 1,000 units of the low-powered ZTE Open were sold in each locale, with the American eBay tapped out at 985 phones for $80 and 990 phones on British eBay sold at 60 pounds. Both offers came with free shipping.
A Mozilla representative said the company wasn't sure when eBay would be able to get more phones in stock.
While blowing through just fewer than 2,000 units isn't exactly setting the smartphone world on fire, Mozilla has been careful not to set that expectation for the phones. Low-powered and affordable are two of the key selling points for the Firefox phones. The ZTE Open comes with a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor, a 3.5-inch screen, a three-megapixel forward-facing camera, 256MB of RAM, and 512MB of storage.
Mozilla's Firefox OS phones currently come in three models, with more expected, and are usually tied to specific carriers and countries. In addition to eBay selling the ZTE Open without a carrier in the U.S. and U.K., T-Mobile in Poland is offering the Alcatel One Touch Fire; Telefonica's Movistar is selling the ZTE Open and the Alcatel model in Venezuela and Colombia; Geeksphone's Keon and Peak are being sold unlocked in Spain.