Geeksphone might be first out of the foxhole with Firefox OS phones
Geeksphone to ship worldwide
Spanish startup Geeksphone unveiled its first Firefox OS smartphones in January, and now rumor has it those phones will be the first to hit the market.
According to a report today from The Next Web, the Firefox OS devices "Keon" and "Peak" will go on sale to developers tomorrow, or Wednesday at the latest.
The site was informed by unspecified sources that both the Keon and the Peak, Geeksphone's entry level and premium Firefox OS phones, respectively, will become available worldwide this week.
Geeksphone can reportedly produce up to 5,000 Firefox OS devices a day, though it's yet to be seen whether there's actually any demand for a new mobile operating system.
Firefox OS pricing and specs
If it weren't for this early launch, Geeksphone wouldn't really be considered a big player in the Firefox OS game, with competitors like ZTE, Alcatel, LG, Huawei, and Sony all promising to bring HTML5-powered smartphones to market at some point.
But Geeksphone does have a few advantages here: in addition to its healthy lead, the price for the lower-end Keon model will reportedly hover around €91 (US$118, UK£77, AU$115), or €115 (US$150, UK£98, AU$146) with value added tax (VAT) included.
The higher-end Peak, on the other hand, could come in at €149 (US$194, UK£127, AU$189) or €180 (US$234, UK£153, AU$229) with VAT.
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Those prices are far from set in stone, though, the site said.
The Geeksphone Keon will reportedly feature a 1GHz snapdragon processor, 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, a 3.5-inch screen, and a 3-megapixel camera.
And the Peak will trump the Keon with a 1.2GHz Snapdragon, a 4.3-inch IPS display, and 8- and 2-megapixel cameras on the back and front, respectively.
Firefox OS worldwide
Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs revealed last week that Firefox OS devices will start shipping en masse to Venezuela, Poland, Brazil, Portugal, and Spain starting in June, with Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, and Serbia getting Firefox OS phones throughout the year.
Kovacs said that Firefox OS wouldn't hit the U.S. until 2014, as Mozilla wants to focus first on emerging markets.
But with Geeksphone expected to ship the Keon and Peak dev units worldwide, there might not be anything stopping early birds in the U.S. and elsewhere from getting their Firefox worm this week.
For more on Firefox OS, check out TechRadar's interview with Mozilla Head of Engineering Jonathan Nightingale.
Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.
Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.