Firefox 4 delayed into 2011

Firefox Director Mike Beltzner has announced that the final release of Firefox 4 won’t now happen until early 2011.

Mozilla released the Firefox 4 Beta 1 back in July and has released updates regularly as the beta version of the browser nears completion.

“As those who have been tracking our nightly builds know, great things are happening with Firefox 4,” said Beltzner.

“The user interface changes are converging, the graphics and layout features are wrapping up, and recently the JavaScript engine was dramatically improved. The result is a fast, capable Firefox that provides better speed and responsiveness for web applications and users.”

Completing the work is taking longer than expected and the company said it will not ship any software before it is ready.

“Development on Firefox 4 has not slowed down and strong progress is being made daily,” he continued.

“Our estimate is now that release candidate builds will ship in early 2011, with a final release date close behind. Please note that, as always, this schedule is subject to change based on feedback from users and community members.”