The Foxconn Technology Group, which produces mobile devices for a number of companies including Apple and Amazon, has announced a partnership that’ll see it working with Mozilla on the Firefox OS open platform. Foxconn will use Firefox on its own products.

Mozilla’s Firefox OS is based on HTML5 and is designed to be an open web mobile operating system. Alcatel, LG and ZTE are expected to be the first companies to release Firefox OS devices.

This new partnership is set to to beyond smartphones; Foxconn says it wants to run the Firefox OS across ‘eight screens’ of devices, including tablets, televisions and electronic signage.

Young Liu, general manager of the Foxconn innovation Digital System Business Group, said “Currently, Foxconn is executing on a vision of ‘eight screens, one network, and one cloud’ with all our strength. Besides the native advantages of hardware manufacturing, Foxconn is also developing a brand new integrated approach to providing hardware, software, content, and services. Because of our shared vision, we are excited to work with Mozilla. Firefox OS from Mozilla is based on HTML5 and open web technologies. The whole idea perfectly matches to the strategies promoted by Foxconn. We believe that the integration of software and hardware development will offer greater benefits to our customers and consumers.”

Dr Li Gong, senior vice president of Mobile Devices and CEO of Mozilla Taiwan, said ““We are very excited about the cooperation with Foxconn and we are glad to see more partners supporting the Firefox OS and the open Web. At Mozilla we see the open Web as the biggest and the best platform for the mobile world. The Firefox OS initiative helps solidify open Web standards for mobile computing; it also encourages and enables more openness in system integration and device interoperation. This cooperation demonstrates the full potential of Firefox OS, the open Web mobile operating system, to enable not only the smartphone but also a wide range of mobile devices.”

[Mozilla blog]