Mozilla is obviously trying its level best to bring its new Firefox OS to the fore this year. While it is clear that the company would not be able to offer serious competition to the current frontrunners of Android and the iOS, its main target is the lower-end smartphone market.

Mozilla now also aims to pull in app developers and mobile carriers to support its platform. The Geeksphone Keon and Peak smartphones are already available for developers. The company additionally plans to introduce more devices in the near future.

While the mobile platform itself did not evince much interest from app developers, the latest update to the Firefox OS Simulator - version 3.0 - did attract quite a few eyeballs. Offering some interesting new features and functionality, this update may encourage more developers to play around with the platform.

Will Mozilla be successful with its plans this year? Will its new operating system be taken seriously? Share your opinions with us!

Mobile app development can turn out to be an expensive affair, especially for independent developers who are just starting off in this field. The lack of funds can sometimes stall projects indefinitely, resulting in the developer's lack of enthusiasm to proceed ahead with fulfilling his or her ambitions.

The developer needs to invest money not only during the app development stage, but also later, while promoting and marketing the app. In such a case, receiving external financial support in exchange for rewards or benefits helps stabilize him or her; thereby far reducing the risk element involved in this industry.

While you can find many sources to fund your project, one emerging popular trend is crowdfunding. This method of funding involves several individuals or groups coming together in order to offer financial support to individuals or groups belonging to the same industry.

Have you tried tying up with crowdfunding networks? What is your opinion about the same? Share your thoughts with us!

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Last week, Mozilla released its Firefox OS Simulator 3.0, an updated version, which now presents new features and functionality to devices running the Firefox OS. The company announced the new upgrade on its developer pages, Mozilla Hacks.

While the Geeksphone Keon and Peak are already available for app developers, Mozilla plans to release more devices in the near future and currently aims to pull in more individuals and companies to build apps for this mobile platform.

The upgrade brings features such as API simulation, rotation simulation, manifest validation and many bug fixes for installing and updating apps. This build also includes a new version of the Firefox rendering engine, plus an updated version of Gaia, the Firefox OS user interface.

Those of you wanting to check out the new simulator version will have to first install Firefox, choose "Web Developer" from the Options menu and then select "Firefox OS Simulator".

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Google will be hosting its annual developer conference, Google I/O, from May 15th to 17th this year. Many of us are excitedly looking forward to this event and there is much speculation about what the giant may have in store for us this year.

I had posted just yesterday about how the company may be thinking of introducing its Android 5.0, aka the Key Lime Pie OS version. There are also rumors of Google introducing the Nexus 5 smartphone at this event. I personally doubt that may happen, as the Nexus 4 is just gaining steam in the market. I really do not see the company coming out with the next-generation phone quite so soon.

Incidentally, the guys over at AndroidPit think that the I/O would see the LG Nexus 4 getting a substantial facelift. The latest in the line of rumors concerning this event is that LG would be unveiling a 32 GB version of this device, which would also include CDMA and LTE. The company, sources believe, could be tying up with Sprint and Verizon to introduce this phone in the market. If we are lucky enough, the handheld could even include Android 5.0.

We are bound to hear many more such rumors in the days to come. Anyways, the Google I/O 2013 is sure to throw up some interesting stuff - that's for sure.

What do you think will be the outcome of this conference? What are your expectations from Google this year? Share your thoughts with us!

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