Firefox: Is Firefox web going to be shut down in China? Chrome and Safari are giving tough competition..

The operator of the Firefox web browser, which once challenged Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), plans to shut down its China unit. Earlier this week, the Chinese version of Firefox issued a notice informing users about the "shutdown" of its main unit in Beijing and the termination of the web browser's China account, according to social media posts and local media reports. The notice also said that the software would remain available in the market, but it was later removed.

On Tuesday, a Firefox employee published a manual on the Chinese-language online forum of Firefox owner Mozilla, instructing users on how to back up data, configuration files, and restore them.

Why is Firefox shutting down
Launched in 2004, the open-source Firefox was known for faster, more private, and more customizable features than the then-dominant IE. Mozilla, which is owned by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, says on its website that the company builds "the Internet for people, not for profit."

By 2009, it had become the world's second-largest browser, when its global market share reached 30 percent, after IE's 60 percent. As mobile Internet usage grew, Google's Chrome overtook Firefox in November 2011, when the Android operating system (OS) became more popular, according to data from Internet traffic tracker StatCounter.

Firefox also ventured into smartphone operating systems, launching the open-source Firefox OS in 2013. At the time, Guo Yuanzheng, Firefox's general manager in China, said the OS was "undoubtedly the next product with the highest expectations," according to a 2013 report by state-backed magazine China Internet Weekly. But the project was discontinued three years later.

In 2008, Guo said Mozilla did not put pressure on the Chinese subsidiary to turn a profit and that “the only task was to increase market share”, according to 21st Century Business Herald. Globally, Firefox was still ranked fourth with a 2.4 percent share in June this year, behind Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Microsoft Edge. But its future in China looked bleak as it faced local competition.

In June, it was only the eighth most popular browser on the mainland, holding less than 1 percent of the market. It lagged behind not only the three Western players, but also local browsers such as Alibaba Group Holding’s UC Browser and Tencent Holdings’ QQ Browser, which ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, StatCounter data showed.

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