Mozilla, the developers behind the World renowned browser, Firefox have announced that they will be adding a new feature called Directory Tiles in the new tab page.
This program has been designed to improve the user’s first-time-with-Firefox experience. In the current versions of Firefox, the new tab shows tiles for the user’s most visited or recently visited websites.
The new Directory Tiles will be placed in the new tab which a user opens, and will contain content from Mozilla’s ecosystem and some will be popular websites in a given geographic location.
Mozilla’s VP of Content services, Darren Herman said,
“Some will be sponsored content from hand-picked partners to help support Mozilla’s pursuit of our mission. The sponsored tiles will be clearly labeled as such, while still leading to content we think users will enjoy.”
Softpedia rightly questions how the feature will help change the experience of new users, since it will not have access to their browsing history.
Currently much of Mozilla’s revenue comes from a search agreement with Google which they signed in 2011, where Mozilla was asked to leave Google as Firefox’s default search engine. Even though they earn a lot of money from Google, Mozilla are losing users to the Google Chrome browser.
So it is clear that Mozilla are looking to change things by adding the sponsored content, i.e, ads to the browser, to increase their revenue.
We are not sure who they have partnered with, but we certainly hope they will continue to support their browser and listen to user feedback, which I think will not be in favor of the sponsored content.
via Softpedia & Mozilla