Exactly 20 years ago, Mozilla began shipping version 1.0 of its Firefox browser. Back then, you could download or buy a CD-ROM with the guidebook from Mozilla (or maybe you could get it on one of the free CDs that came with many magazines at the time). (No) Born from the ashes of Netscape, Firefox would go on to capture well over 30% of the global market. However, a period of stagnation followed, and after the arrival of the faster and lighter Google Chrome, Firefox slowly but surely lost market share. It also didn't help that at the time, Mozilla seemed to prioritize everything but the browser, even though its mobile browser efforts never quite took off.
Despite everything, Firefox remains powerful and is today a better browser than ever before. Now, Mozilla, which recently announced that it wants to refocus its browser, needs to figure out a way to get the browser back on track.
To celebrate Firefox's 20th anniversary, I spoke with Mozilla interim CEO Laura Chambers, who took over from Mitchell Baker earlier this year. One of the first things he did in the role, Chambers told me at the time from his home in Australia, was to “push a lot of money into Firefox product development.”
“What I love about Firefox is that it gives users the choice of a browser that is truly designed for them,” she said. “From the very beginning, we've really wanted to create a browser that puts people before profits, puts privacy above everything else, and has that option, that choice.”
Return to growth
Mozilla CEO Laura Chambers Image credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images / Getty Images
“I have been involved many times in places where people tend to forget about the core business, get distracted by the shiny things and stop investing in the business. “We do that,” said Chambers, who previously held executive positions at PayPal. , Skype, Airbnb, and Willow Innovations. “I'm very determined that that's not what we're trying to do here. Firefox is very important and core to us. In fact, we're investing more in it this year, We've invested in connecting with the community, introducing and testing positive features, and giving people a good experience. That's been a top priority for me and the company this year, and it's showing in the results. .”
She acknowledged that Mozilla does not have device distribution that benefits many of Firefox's competitors, especially mobile, but also cited Europe's Digital Marks Act (DMA). This means, for example, that Apple has to offer a choice of browsers on iOS screens — that work.
“With DMA, the implementation hasn't been as spectacular, but we're seeing real change. When people have the choice to choose Firefox, they choose Firefox,” she said. “On mobile, we know that if people choose Firefox, they will choose us, so there are some good, promising things happening there. Excellent.”
To accelerate this growth, Mozilla is looking to reach new and younger users. Chambers said Mozilla is running a number of marketing campaigns to get people familiar with Firefox, especially those who are just starting to choose a browser for the first time.
She believes these make Mozilla's message about privacy stick particularly well. “Privacy still resonates, right? It always does. For example, when you ask people if they care about privacy, they always say yes. So, are they taking appropriate action? “Although not always, people understand and appreciate privacy messages,” she said.
Of course, the browser also needs to work very well, she said. And that's something Mozilla has focused on quite extensively in recent years. At the same time, teams must continue to innovate and deliver the features that users want. For example, she noted that Mozilla is currently conducting far more user experience experiments with the browser as part of its refocus on Firefox.
Firefox AI
Mozilla is also thinking about how AI will change the way people browse the web. There, organizations primarily focus on giving people choices. We've already started building some small models into the browser, mostly around translation, but in Firefox 130 we also introduced a model that automatically adds alternative text to PDF images, for example. In all of this work with AI models, Mozilla plans to follow the Open Source Initiative's guidance on what constitutes an open source model.
“I think browsers can play a really, really powerful role here. A browser designed around user choice and designed with user privacy in mind will help shape the future of Gen AI, especially in society. “I think it has the potential to play a very important role in a world where there are models who take action on your behalf,'' she said. “How do you make them transparent about what they're doing and how they're making that choice? How do they have good experience with that? We are trying to focus on what the experience of people using AI will be in the future.”
However, she believes it will still be two to three years before we see AI really having a strong impact on how people use their browsers.
What happens if the Google Search contract ends?
From a financial perspective, Mozilla relies almost entirely on its search contract with Google. The Department of Justice is currently reviewing these deals, primarily due to the Google-Apple deal, which risks ending up harming Mozilla as well. But Chambers didn't seem too concerned about this. He noted that although the expected soon-to-be ruling applies in the United States, Mozilla is a global organization.
“If you think for a second about what the Department of Justice is trying to do here, they're trying to increase competition, right? The reality is that Mozilla is one of the strongest competitive elements in this market.” she said. “In fact, we have our own browser engine. There's actually an alternative technology. We're actually one of the very rare technologies. [where] We're kind of a big tech company, but we're doing good things on the internet, so our incentives are actually very aligned with this work. So you have to imagine that as they're weighing the ruling and the considerations, it's not in their best interest at all to put Mozilla in a bad situation. Because it would reduce competition. That is the essence of this bill. Regulation. “
While some may argue that this puts more trust in regulators than necessary, Chambers also noted that the team is working on scenario planning. Mozilla has tried to diversify its revenue, but at the end of the day, Firefox is what keeps the organization afloat.
But there's no question that the Web would be a very different place without Firefox, and without Mozilla's advocacy of an open Web ecosystem. Mozilla itself may be grappling with its own issues, but now is as good a time as ever to find out if Firefox is the right browser for you (again).