Is FireFox running out of money?

[Mr Happy]

Over the last few years Mozilla FireFox got most of it's money (85% according to their financial reports) from Google for making it the default search engine for a number of years. The contract was originally due to end in 2006 but it was extended until November 2008 and then again until November 2011.

Now here's the problem. The last time the contract was renewed Google Chrome browser didn't really exist but now Google Chrome is bigger than FireFox in users according to statcounter.

The contract just ran out and their has being zero news about the contract being renewed. I can't find any information anywhere that suggests it was renewed which is unusual as press releases for deals such as this are common.

We can safely presume it was renewed as it's still good for both companies and Google doesn't really want Bing becoming the default browser. However one has to assume that if it was renewed it must be for a lot less money due to it not being announced added to the fall of FireFox and the new dominance and growth of Google Chromes market share. Why would Google pump millions into FireFox when it's a competitor?

If FireFox are currently having trouble losing users to Google Chrome and being forced to release updates more frequently to keep up the fight then competing with a severely reduced budget will be a much bigger challenge and could potentially bring the downfall of FireFox even faster.



UPDATE 20th December 2011
Today Mozilla announced that they did a new three year deal with Google but they haven't disclosed the details. It was to be expected that a new deal would be done as it's still beneficial for both companies but I'd be interested to see for how much it was as FireFox isn't as big as it used to be so it would be hard for them to demand such a high price. Suppose we can find out in their end of year financial statement what that comes out.

Mr Happy Reviewed by Mr Happy on 5th Dec 2011. Is FireFox running out of money? http://i.imgur.com/ouv7P.png Over the last few years Mozilla FireFox got most of it's money (85% according to their financial reports) from Google for making it the default search engine for a number of years. The contract was originally due to end in 2006 but it was extended until November 2008 and then again until November 2011. Now here's the problem. The last time the contract was renewed Google Chrome browser didn't really exist but now Google Chrome is bigger than FireFox in users Rating: 5

[vizoomer]

this sucks for firefox i love both of them and i hope the competition between them goes on for the betterment and not for destruction of each other :/

[Phozon]

Interesting topic Mr Happy. And i agree with all points made. It also seems FF is slowly giving up trying to fix major issues like the memory leaks. Myself being a FF fan gets this quite often, (like 3/5 daily.) I only have like 6 tabs open and i'm using 300mb memory or more. I would use chrome but there's alot of things i don't like about it.

Example's being the tabs being forced to stay at the top i like them below my address bar not at the top where it takes longer to find what i want. I'm also not to keen on the plugin's it just doesn't appeal to me. Another thing i find is alot of sites i try in chrome break even KWWHunction doesn't work right for me.

So it will be really interesting to see what happens chrome may be the biggest but until they fix these issues i wont take the move.

[Mr Happy]

Not to worried about the memory leaks issues or features as they can be improved if you have time and money. What I'm worried about is if these memory leaks or non features are due to income or funding issues and if not will they be in the future. Even with a few extra donations or a new contract from another search engine like Bing your not going to replace a huge 85% of your income. If Google do pull out or reduce the money Bing won't be forced into a bidding war. Yahoo are powered by Bing so they won't bid and others like Ask.com or Badu aren't big enough. Microsoft already have their own browser anyway with is IE so the price for a new contract would be extremely low.

[JoomlaZ]

well i dont really like chrome. m sticking with my poor firefox

[foxman]

Chrome is nice but i never did like it, FF for the win!

[Mr Happy]

Chrome is nice but i never did like it, FF for the win!

I was wondering who would make the first reply by only reading the title and looking at the picture.

[Rocke]

I'm still wondering why is Chrome still 'Beta'

[EnCiPh3r]

I'm still wondering why is Chrome still 'Beta'

Even GMail was in Beta for a few years after its public launch

BETA states that the development is not yet finished they will make it much more better as time passes.

[Rocke]

I agree, but on the other hand... developments itself wont end when a final version of something is released... would it?