Mozilla might have the answer. Last month,the company revealedit would offer a paid version of its popular Firefox browser, and now apage on its websiteconfirms more details. It will be charging $4.99 per month for ad-free access to some unnamed journalism websites, with the slogan: “Support the sites you love, avoid the ads you hate.”
“We’ve partnered with some of the world’s greatest publishers to bring you a better journalism experience,” the webpagereads. “We share your payment directly with the sites you read. They make more money which means they can bring you great content without needing to distract you with ads just to keep the lights on.”
Other features will be included in the premium price as well, like audio versions of articles (good for when you’re walking), bookmarks which sync across all of your devices, recommended reading picks, and a content discovery app. Most of these are features you can already add to Firefox for free using add-ons, but they could be useful for users who don’t trust third party developers or who don’t want to hunt for add-ons.
The page also describes a reading sync system, where Firefox will pick up articles where you left off even if you change devices. This is another feature that’s already available on reading apps like Pocket, but it’s nice to have it built in to a browser.
Finally, the site confirms the ad-free experience will be available on both desktop and mobile browsers, which is a relief. It isn’t explicit about how the pay structure works, but it seems as if you pay a single monthly fee for ad-free browsing on all of your devices, which will make it an easier sell to power users who have multiple devices and who are presumably the target audience.
