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The two places it's mind boggling that Mozilla doesn't have a product are (1) identity (especially as a provider to 3rd parties) and (2) instant messaging (especially on mobile).

They were important 10 years ago, they're more important today, and the existing providers all have huge privacy concerns.



What would be Mozilla's revenue model for instant messaging?


Ads?

Nothing says you have to track users, if you're not looking to optimize ad monetization per user.

And I daresay there are a fair number of companies who would love to get even blind exposure to Mozilla's userbase.


Why would people use Mozilla's app and not WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, or others?


Privacy, availability, popularity respectively.


Signal is already ostensibly private, available, and popular enough, and doesn't have ads... why compete?

IMO Mozilla should just double down on the browser and do everything they can to keep it as a lifeline for Free Software devices to be able to participate on the internet as first class citizens.


Signal intentionally made their messaging rely on a single, central point of failure, perfect for targeting by all sorts of criminals and governments. If Mozilla provides a Matrix server, I will seriously consider it.


They could start acting like the nonprofit they are supposedly are instead of LARPing as silicon valley tech bros.


> instant messaging

Doesn't Mozilla have their own Matrix server?


It does, but it's mostly for coordinating development rather than a consumer facing product. Personally I'm not convinced Mozilla IM would make sense though. It's a crowded msrket with lots of other options.


There are not many options for a secure, e2e messaging not relying on a single point of failure (including Signal), with a good UX and a possibility of video calls. I only know of Matrix. A AFAIK there are not so many trusted servers.




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