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The thing is, Firefox for desktop and Firefox for Android could implement those APIs and then implement 'installing' apps from the web that use those APIs, making them cross-platform. And, since the APIs and all code is open source, other browser makers would be free to implement it.

Note that it won't be available on iOS, of course, as Apple won't let alternative browsers be installed, just skins for Mobile Safari like Dolphin and Google Chrome.



> The thing is, Firefox for desktop and Firefox for Android could implement those APIs and then implement 'installing' apps from the web that use those APIs, making them cross-platform. And, since the APIs and all code is open source, other browser makers would be free to implement it.

This is already the case - check out http://marketplace.firefox.com/ on desktop or android Firefox.

However - note that app developers can choose to only support certain form factors. Many do support desktop however, for example https://marketplace.firefox.com/app/pasjanssolitaire

Desktop does not support all of the new WebAPIs currently though (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebAPI), and certainly some may not be relevant on all platforms.




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