Mozilla released the first beta version of its new Firefox browser, the 3.1. The release mainly targets developers and Web designers, in order for the company to receive their feedback on the browser’s functionality. The tests will show the compatibility between the 3.1. and several plug-ins and Web pages and will also help with the development of the next version.

The new browser provides several new features such as location awareness, significantly improved JavaScript performance, 3D preview during tab switching and better compliance with web standards. The thing that stands out the most is its speed, clearly one of the company’s main focuses in the development process.

The competition is tougher than ever and all the companies involved in the race are looking to step up their game in order to provide a more competitive product. "We're watching other browsers as much as they're watching us," said Mike Shaver, Mozilla's interim vice president of engineering, referring to last month’s decision to postpone the release of the 3.1. in order to complete the work on some new features, which came as a direct result to the release of Chrome’s release and also the JavaScript (JS) engine optimization in Safari 4 beta.

Firefox managed to become a hit in the past few years, holding at this point close to 20 percent of the browser market and even though Microsoft remains the distant leader, if the company keeps its efforts up and continues with the updates, the percentage pie might look significantly different in the upcoming years.