An early, pre-alpha version of Mozilla's Fennec mobile browser has been around for months, but the Firefox developer has today released an official full alpha for download. And it's not just Android that's benefitting—the mobile browser has also been released for Nokia's N900 smartphone.

Remember the Browser Wars of the Aughts? Internet Exploder gripped the web. Firefox 1.0 challenged the king. Six years later, IE is waning. (But still strong.) WebKit rules smartphones. Where does Mozilla, and the web, go from here?

The first build you can install of Firefox for Android—aka Fennec—is "pre-alpha," but I doubt that'll stop you. You'll (basically) need a Droid or Nexus One, though. [Download via Vlad1]

Watching Firefox Mobile (Fennec) has been frustrating. First, it arrives for Nokia tablets. But who uses Nokia tablets? Then, for Windows Mobile, which is dying. Thankfully, Fennec for Android—its only viable platform, for now—is coming along nicely.

When I first saw this, I was tempted to call fake. I mean, why the hell is a desktop version of Firefox running on Android? What happened to Fennec? But rest assured, this is real—and actually, very encouraging.

Mozilla's CEO says an iPhone app is due within a few weeks, and that it'll "surprise people." I mean, that's neat and all, but the most exciting possibility—Firefox—would be the least surprising. So, uh, what is it?

Firefox, the open-source upstart launched in 2004, is officially now a powerhouse, having been downloaded over one billion times in the last five years. Hell, it's prominent enough to attract the attention of the Secretary of State.

Good news if you're a Windows Mobile user and were feeling left out the Mozilla's Fennec mobile browser party. Today's Alpha 2 release should now work with most devices using the Windows Mobile 6 platform. (Support had initially been limited to the HTC Touch Pro and some other "VGA phones".)

In yet another one of our new mobile app roundups, we've taken a reckless swan dive into the vast, burbling ocean of Windows Mobile software. Mozilla's Fennec browser goes for a test run, VLC gets a remote, and more.