This is a first in a series of blog posts that will try to articulate some background about add-ons in order to explore potential product directions for the Mozilla add-ons site (AMO).
First some facts and figures to help set the context and scale for Firefox add-ons.
- There are more than 180 million active monthly Firefox users (more than 60 million daily)
- There have been more than 800 million add-on downloads since the inception of AMO
- There are about 150 million active daily add-ons (Each add-on downloaded from AMO pings once a day)
- AMO hosts about 5600 add-ons and 800 themes
- We believe that there is a sizable number of add-ons not hosted on AMO (more than 1000?)
- The AMO site has about 4-5 million page views and more than 750,000 user sessions daily
- Every day 10-20 blog/news articles are published reviewing or mentioning some Firefox add-ons
Basically, there is a TON of user and developer activity here.
Why are add-ons important?
- They are core to the Mozilla’s mission to offer “choice & innovation”
- Customization is a key differentiator for Firefox. Huge momentum versus Internet Explorer, Safari (no official site), and Opera
- Add-ons have become a platform for innovation and experimentation and it’s relatively easy to get started
- Many startups have made their bet with the Firefox user base as the entry point
- Major web properties invest in building & distributing add-ons
- We believe that Firefox users who have installed add-ons tend to be more loyal
AMO’s Core Principles
Given the above, the AMO site’s function is to present end users with add-ons, keep them up to date and support the developers who publish these add-ons. The AMO development team focuses its efforts around four main guiding principles:
- Help users find and discover add‑ons in their local language
- Ensure the highest quality for what gets published
- Create a satisfied ecosystem of add-on developers, editors and translators
- Create the most comprehensive add-ons directory on the web
In my next posts, we’ll explore the various constituents (End Users, Developers, Translators & AMO Editors) that make up the add-ons ecosystem and their unique needs.
(Note: we should recognize that even though the AMO site only supports official Mozilla products: Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey and Sunbird. To look at the entire ecosystem, we need to examine the many XUL-based applications and their support for add-ons. Many applications have their own dedicated add-on site such as the ones for Flock, Songbird, eMusic, and Komodo.)
Morbus wrote on
bhashem wrote on
Morbus wrote on
Ethan Bauman wrote on
Ethan Bauman wrote on
bhashem wrote on
bhashem wrote on