If you’re a Firefox fan living in the U.S. hoping to get your hands on one of those Firefox smartphones running the Firefox OS, then you’re out of luck. Apparently, Mozilla has no plans at the moment to launch Firefox OS in America, which could mainly be due to the strong competition from Android and iOS in the market. If you really want one of these smartphones, then you’ll have to purchase a developer phone via eBay. We’ve learnt that Mozilla has already sold over 1,300 of these developer phones running Firefox OS.

“Currently, there are no plans to launch in the US,” Mozilla CEO, Mitchell Baker told CNET’s editor-in-chief, Paul Sloan, during a fireside-style conversation in front of an audience of around 100 people.

Now, no need to panic just yet. Mozilla will eventually launch a Firefox smartphone in the United States, however; the company has chosen to put most of its resources towards developing nations. These are the places where Mozilla has the ability to ring in the success train, especially if the company can compete at price, which is what it intends to do.

So far, Apple has missed the opportunity to compete at price in developing nations, something that backfire in the future. Nokia realizes this, and it is why the top selling Windows Phone 8 device is the Lumia 520 — a budget device. Android manufacturers are similarly on the ball. Looks like Mozilla is trying to follow their footsteps.

[via CNET]