A New Odd Couple: Mozilla, Samsung Partner on Android Web Browser

If it seems as though Samsung is looking around every corner and cracking open every door these days, it’s because the Korean device maker is doing just that in search of new revenue sources and safety nets for its big mobile bet, namely Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android platform.

Now Samsung is hooking up with Mozilla on a new browser engine for Android and the ARM architecture. Yes, that Mozilla, the browser builder community soon to release a Linux-based, open source Firefox mobile OS of its own, and Samsung, the top dog among Android-based mobile device makers, are new bunk mates. The collaboration aims to produce a new browser called Servo, written in Mozilla’s new Rust “safe systems” programming language, intended to take advantage of faster, multicore, heterogeneous computing architectures, according to a Brendan Eich, Mozilla CTO, writing in a blog post detailing the project.

“Servo is an attempt to rebuild the Web browser from the ground up on modern hardware, rethinking old assumptions along the way,” Eich wrote. “This means addressing the causes of security vulnerabilities while designing a platform that can fully utilize the performance of tomorrow’s massively parallel hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web.”

The idea, Eich said, is to advance not only Servo but also Rust, which, after years in development, now sits on version 0.6. “This is an exciting step in the evolution of both projects that will allow us to start deeper research with Servo on mobile,” he said.

Samsung’s contribution to Servo thus far has been to supply a port to ARM and Android, along with what Eich called “many other improvements.” Eich said Rust aims to “fill many of the same niches that C++ has over the past decades,” particularly more exact control over hardware, he said. In addition, Rust is “safe by default,” meaning it is less vulnerable to crashes and security compromises prompted by memory management errors.

As for Rust’s rollout dates, there’s not much detail, at least right now. Eich said Mozilla is working on the first major revision of the language, “cleaning up, expanding and documenting the libraries, building out our tools to improve the user experience, and beefing up performance.” At the same time, Mozilla will be “putting more resources into Servo, trying to prove that we can build a fast web browser with pervasive parallelism, and in a safe, fun language.”

So, what’s in it for Samsung? Chances are the company wants to offload some measure of its heavy bet on Android. Should Servo emerge as a next-generation, secure browser for Android, it certainly would give Samsung a marker from which to distinguish its mobile platform from the mothership’s. Keep in mind that Samsung plans to offer a high-end smartphone framed on the open source, Linux-based, Tizen operating system later this year, most likely a hedge against relying too heavily on Android. While Mozilla certainly is pleased by the Korean manufacturer’s investment, for Samsung’s part the association likely serves as another door opened just in case.

The source code for Rust 0.6 and Servo are available via GitHub.