diff --git a/core/includes/theme.inc b/core/includes/theme.inc
index d044f06882fcca31c8cd0e100d75b28962469144..5ea77ea0f9179c863cae3792fd5fdff0b12537b9 100644
--- a/core/includes/theme.inc
+++ b/core/includes/theme.inc
@@ -2533,6 +2533,9 @@ function template_preprocess_html(&$variables) {
   $variables['head_title_array'] = $head_title;
   $variables['head_title'] = implode(' | ', $head_title);
 
+  // Mobile Metatags, used for Responsive Webdesign. Metatags are added in html.tpl.php
+  $variables['default_mobile_metatags'] = TRUE;
+
   // Populate the page template suggestions.
   if ($suggestions = theme_get_suggestions(arg(), 'html')) {
     $variables['theme_hook_suggestions'] = $suggestions;
diff --git a/core/modules/system/html.tpl.php b/core/modules/system/html.tpl.php
index 960eefbdb63b6b1278799357c79ba4cdc4f4efba..d587dcc7e64e4acf76266eb151d85da732c0ca0a 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/html.tpl.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/html.tpl.php
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
  *   - slogan: The slogan of the site, if any, and if there is no title.
  * - $head: Markup for the HEAD section (including meta tags, keyword tags, and
  *   so on).
+ * - $default_mobile_metatags: (boolean) If TRUE, default mobile metatags for
+ *   Responsive Design will be included.
  * - $styles: Style tags necessary to import all CSS files for the page.
  * - $scripts: Script tags necessary to load the JavaScript files and settings
  *   for the page.
@@ -43,6 +45,13 @@
 <html<?php print $html_attributes; ?>>
   <head>
     <?php print $head; ?>
+    <?php if ($default_mobile_metatags): ?>
+      <meta name="MobileOptimized" content="width" />
+      <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true" />
+      <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
+      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />
+      <meta http-equiv="cleartype" content="on" />
+    <?php endif; ?>
     <title><?php print $head_title; ?></title>
     <?php print $styles; ?>
     <?php print $scripts; ?>
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.test b/core/modules/system/system.test
index 9287d16d8a0137ff73b294565836914b58401806..3cd13fded343c4e0464ab47331099ba01dee6854 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.test
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.test
@@ -880,6 +880,53 @@ class AdminMetaTagTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
   }
 }
 
+class DefaultMobileMetaTagsTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
+  /**
+   * Implement getInfo().
+   */
+  public static function getInfo() {
+    return array(
+      'name' => 'Default mobile meta tags',
+      'description' => 'Confirm that the default mobile meta tags appear as expected.',
+      'group' => 'System'
+    );
+  }
+
+  function setUp() {
+    parent::setUp();
+
+    // Create an administrative user.
+    $this->default_metatags = array(
+      'MobileOptimized' => '<meta name="MobileOptimized" content="width" />',
+      'apple-mobile-web-app-capable' => '<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />',
+      'HandheldFriendly' => '<meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true" />',
+      'viewport' => '<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />',
+      'cleartype' => '<meta http-equiv="cleartype" content="on" />'
+    );
+  }  
+
+  /**
+   * Verify that the default mobile meta tags are added.
+   */
+  public function testDefaultMetaTagsExist() {
+    $this->drupalGet('');
+    foreach ($this->default_metatags as $name => $metatag) {
+      $this->assertRaw($metatag, t('Default Mobile meta tag "'.$name.'" generated correctly.'), t('System'));
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Verify that the default mobile meta tags can be removed by a contrib module/theme
+   */
+  public function testRemovingDefaultMetaTags() {
+    module_enable(array('system_module_test'));
+    $this->drupalGet('');
+    foreach ($this->default_metatags as $name => $metatag) {
+      $this->assertNoRaw($metatag, t('Default Mobile meta tag "'.$name.'" does not exist.'), t('System'));
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Tests custom access denied functionality.
  */
