Mozilla Firefox to show sponsored websites in New Tab boxes

Mozilla has revealed an upcoming change to Firefox that may not sit well with all its users: advertisements. Specifically, according to details given at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's recent meeting, the company plans to point newly-installed browsers to websites and generate some revenue all the while using New Tab ads.

Officially being called "Directory Tiles", the advertisements will be of sponsored websites, as well as popular websites based on where one lives and the Mozilla ecosystem itself. The boxes on the New Tab page contain, over time, websites the user has visited and such, but will — after the feature arrives — first display the ads while empty.

Less there be user confusion or frustration, all the advertisements will be labelled as such. At first the change will only show up on the desktop browser, but it'll eventually find its way to Firefox OS and Firefox for Android. When this will happen wasn't specified, though Mozilla's Darren Herman said it'll happen "as soon as we have the user experience right."

This aims to meet a mix between bringing in revenue for Mozilla while offering up Web users websites they might find interesting or relevant. Less one worry their Firefox experience is about to change, there's one important stipulation for the ads: they'll only show up for new users and those who re-install Firefox browser. After enough usage, the ads will be replaced with recent and frequent websites.

SOURCE: CNET and Mozilla