Can a cellphone maker produce a smartphone for just $25? That is the hope of Mozilla, the nonprofit company that created and maintains the Firefox browser.

During the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Mozilla showcased a series of new phones that run on its Firefox mobile operating system, including one prototype that could retail for less than a DVD box set.

The device is targeted at emerging markets like Indonesia and is expected to hit stores by the end of the year.

It represents Firefox's latest efforts to offer handset makers an alternative to Google's Android operating system, which is used in almost 80 per cent of the world's smartphones, according to the research firm Gartner.

Other software competitors, including the open-source Tizen Association - which has backing from the likes of Intel and Samsung - and its rival Ubuntu are also trying to muscle in on territory now dominated by Android and Apple’s iOS.

These upstart software rivals, which still represent a fraction of the overall market, are targeting both existing smartphones and new wearable devices like smartwatches to offer manufacturers an alternative to the main two software providers.

That is particularly true in emerging markets where low-cost phones are often not designed to run the most high-powered versions of Android.

“You’ve got billions of people coming online and many can’t use the phones in the market,” said Johnathan Nightingale, the vice president for Firefox at Mozilla. “We have the luxury to say that this is something that the world needs, and we don’t need to make money from it.”

NYT