Mozilla to ramp up Thunderbird investment

New company to be launched with $3million earmarked for new innovations

Mozilla, the organisations behind the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client, is set to launch a new company devoted to developing and improving Thunderbird, and driving interest among the developer community.

While Firefox has managed to accrue critical and popular success including the backing of Google and other internet portals, the Mozilla Foundation's email client has struggled, according to Mozilla's European president, Tristan Nitot.

"When you compare it to Firefox, Thunderbird seems less successful and [internally] we tend to favour [the former] so Thunderbird doesn't get the resources it deserves," he explained.

Potential projects that head of the new company David Ascher could look at in the future include calendaring, VoIP, instant messaging or creating interfaces with social networking sites, Nitot added.

The new firm will be a fully-owned subsidiary of the Foundation with $3m earmarked for development, he explained.

"Having $3m invested shows we care about Thunderbird and it does have a future," he added. "Ascher's mandate is broader than just keeping it going – he will have to build a community and innovations will be a strong motivator [for developers]."