Update: Mozilla Mobile To Hit Alpha Within Weeks

Mozilla’s mobile browser, long-under-development with the codename Fennec, should be available in alpha release within a matter of weeks. Engineers released Milestone 8 of the tool at the end of September and have previously said the utility will be finished and ready for use by early 2009.

Mozilla chief executive John Lilly now indicates things are progressing quickly. In a new interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Lilly says:

“We want to make sure that the Web on mobile is more like the Web than what the mobile industry offers today, which is closed, separate networks and not a very good information-getting experience for the user. The first thing is to bring Firefox to mobile devices. We’re working on that, and we’ll see some alphas in a few weeks.”

Fennec’s early versions have been tested with Nokia models, but Mozilla intends to have the browser support multiple platforms by the time it’s ready to roll.