Om Malik's got a little embryo of a theory, and it revolves around Mozilla's hosted services/browser sync service called Weave:

I sat around gabbing with Lilly and Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's VP of Mobile, talking about Weave and the Awesome Bar, which is a way to get access to all your browsing history and bookmarks by just typing them in the URL bar on your browser. And while we were talking about Weave, I asked them if it was going to be part of this new, mysterious iPhone app. Lilly and Sullivan smiled and remained silent. Interestingly, they didn't correct me.

It's a telling anecdote, and nearly enough to assume that Weave will be some part of the app, and if the alternative is a browser—which Apple probably wouldn't be too excited to approve—then maybe the whole app. But goddamnit, let's indulge our depressingly modest mobile Firefox fantasies anyway! Lifehacker flags a (cautious) thesis by Kevin Tofel at JKOnTheRun, who sees a Fennec hiding behind the smoke:

Apple did begin to approve third-party applications earlier this year, so a Mozilla browser does have a chance for approval. And that could open the door for the Weave service, as well. Apple's Mobile Me service doesn't sync bookmarks or web passwords over-the-air currently, although I suspect these functions could be added in the future. In light of that, I'm thinking we're about to see Fennec on the iPhone.

So in conclusion, Mozilla: ^This.^ [GigaOm and JKOnTheRun via Lifehacker]

The one billion downloads milestone includes users downloading multiple copies for different computers as well as any manual downloads for upgrading purposes, though not any automatic updates. With so many users, it's now holding about 31% marketshare, second only to that ornery old dinosaur Internet Explorer at around 60% (Opera, Chrome and Safari are all below 5%). Once Firefox Mobile and the oddly Chrome-like Firefox 4.0 come out, we can expect that number to skyrocket even more. Congratulations and mazel tov, Mozilla. [BBC]

Newly added treats include updated themes and a tweaked UI, improved add-on support and numerous bug fixes. We gave the alpha a quick spin and found that while a bit slow, it shows plenty of promise. The interface and overall experience is actually pretty usable, and it renders pages beautifully.

A corresponding Maemo release for Nokia's N810 has also been made available. If you want to know what all the fuss is about (or you're one of those add-on writing folks we love so much), then you can experiment with the desktop versions for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Update: And it looks like there may be some reprieve coming to neglected Android users as well, eventually. [Mozilla—Thanks, Tim!]

It might've been hard to tell through the thick fog of Palm Pre coverage, but it's been a good month for Windows Mobile. We got free online backup from Microsoft, along with a new Facebook app and a hefty update to the already-great Skyfire browser. Windows Mobile 6.5 inched closer to release, and I showed you how to try it out ahead of time. And even though the Windows Mobile Marketplace isn't open for business yet, there's still plenty going on in the world of WinMo apps:

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Fennec: The Windows Mobile version of Mozilla been available for a few months, but it has so far lacked some important features, like, uhh, the ability to connect to the internet. Now the project has gone Alpha, and the new version actually works. It's an early, early build and still quite slow, but I already like their new navigation system, and page rendering is close to perfect. For VGA phones only. Free.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Kinoma Play: There's a special kind of expensive, power-user mega-app that you only really see on Windows Mobile, which Kinoma exemplifies gloriously. The app, which is, or was, primarily a media player/viewer, has expanded its purview to include social media sites as well. A short list of capabilities: video playback; music playback; picture viewing; YouTube browsing/playing; Twitter integration; Flickr support; Last.fm streaming and scrobbling; and RSS reader; an interface for the MobiHand app store; and too many more too list. It's pretty cool, but also $30: maybe a reasonable price for a mobile OS or really good shell conversion, but for a single app? Ha. UPDATE: There's a free version, appropriately called Freeplay, and it's got a fair portion of the pay version's features. Definitely worth a try.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.SugarSync: A years-old cross-platform backup service, SugarSync has undergone a nice little transformation this month: now that Microsoft has opened up their 200MB My Phone backup service to everyone, SugarSync is giving away 2GB accounts for free. The Windows Mobile client is simple and tidy, just like a backup app should be.
(via Modaco)

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.SportyPal: For GPS-equipped phones only, SportyPal is a workout tracker—that is, if your workouts are based around running, biking, rollerblading or otherwise moving yourself from on place to another. It plots your journey on a Google Map, and gives you a rundown of distance traveled, calories burned and speed sustained. The app is free and fairly easy to use, as is the accompanying site, which you'll need to register for.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.VLC Remote: A nice little remote app if your digital media life is centered around VLC, the cross-platform, do-it-all media playing app. It's stripped down, efficient, minimalist, and free, just like its control-ee.

Windows Mobile On Giz:

• How To: Install Windows Mobile 6.5 Right Now
• Cashmere and Alchemy: The New Heart of Windows Mobile (and Maybe More), Not a Ladies' Soap Store
• Windows Mobile's App Sharing Feature Isn't Really Sharing At All
• Microsoft My Phone Beta Open to the Public
• Windows Mobile 7 May Get Gesture Controls After All
• Windows Mobile Team Admits, Explains 6.5's Half-Assed UI
• Windows Marketplace for Mobile Now Open to Developers
• Windows Mobile Official Facebook App: Unpretty But Useful
• This Is What the Windows Mobile Marketplace Looks Like
• Skyfire Leaves Beta, Steals Windows Mobile Browsing Crown

This list is in no way definitive (especially cause it's our first!). If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this month, give us a heads up or let us know in the comments. Have a good rest of your weekend everybody!

The video above takes you through the walkthrough of Beta 1 and gives you a good roundup of some of the more notable features. The most promising feature in our opinion, just like the best feature on the desktop version of Firefox, is the add-on support. There's already a couple extensions available (sample video below).

[Mozilla via Pavlov]

The build is very rough and probably not usable for day-to-day browsing—early reports suggest that the loading time is very long, and that page loading is quite slow pretty much broken—but it might provide a glimpse of where Firefox Mobile is headed, how it will render pages and if its novel control scheme is usable on a device smaller than the N810.

The CAB download is available here, but I had no luck launching the app on my T-Mobilized HTC Touch Diamond variant. Let us know about your successes and failures in the comments. UPDATE: A consensus has emerged! It's not at all ready yet. It's to be taken as an assurance of forward movement, I guess. [WMExperts via Slashphone]

The quote isn't gospel, but it's a pretty solid indicator:

We are targeting a Milestone release for the first week of February, targeting the HTC Touch Pro

The Touch Pro is an interesting choice for the first release; the decision, I'd wager, stemmed from the ease of porting—resizing interface elements and managing the GUI is much easier when you got the Pro's 480x640 display to work with, and dealing with performance issues, which were evident in the early Nokia N810 build as well as the emulator, wouldn't be so hard on this relatively beefy piece of hardware. Not to mention the fact that the QWERTY keyboard simplifies finger-friendly text input.

Whatever the reasoning, the release of a Windows Mobile version of Fennec represents significant progress toward a wide Windows Mobile release. Plus, I don't see why this build wouldn't at least sort of work on other VGA WinMo phones like the functionally identical Touch Diamond. [ElectricPig via ShinyShiny]

The issue, which we discussed in our primer on what sucks about programming for Android, is that everything has to be written in a custom form of Java to run on Android. And Mozilla's Jay Sullivan says they aren't playing that—there won't be Mobile Firefox on Android until Google accepts programs not written in Java. And uh, that could take a long, long while. Anyone else sorely, bruisingly disappointed? Cause that basically leaves Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile as the only places to get your Firefox Mobile on. [ABC News via Android Community]