Motorola, having lost its number three slot in India to Samsung, is now making an effort to get its position back. The company, which is known for smart, sleek looks, now reckons features are equally important to succeed in the market.

Motorola's market share in India dwindled from 6.7% to 5.9% in the first quarter of the calendar year and its global shipment of handsets has seen a steep fall from 40.9 million units in Q4 of 2007 to 27.4 million units in Q1 of 2008.

Motorola is targeting the Indian youth market not just with a stylish case but with stylish features too. And music is one key feature that this market demands. This has helped Sony Ericsson and Nokia to outsell Motorola, which is now introducing handsets with MP3 players that can be connected to a music library of 350,000 songs in major Indian languages. Camera and touch screens also feature strongly.

Kishore, a student who uses a Motorola says: 'I like Motorola for its sleek, sexy case, this is Motorola's USP. 350,000 songs sounds exciting when you hear it once, but sheafing through the library will be a headache. Rather than being connected I prefer having songs of my choice stored in my cell. Connecting to a library will be time taking and I doubt the sound quality will be good.'

Internet access via mobile phones is the thing that's considered in-vogue in India. To address the needs of those who prefer Internet connectivity on their cell phone, Motorola's new phones will have more Internet services and applications.

Motorola is also looking for developers that can create new applications for phones. One such application is 'ipointer' which is likely to find its way into mobile phones. The mobile phone when pointed towards a building, monument or architecture, gives information about the location and a brief description.

Dushyant, who works for an event management company thinks, 'This feature will definitely click, there are so many things around us that we are unsure about and it will be an advantage knowing about it without much ado.'

Who wouldn't want such an encyclopaedia in their pocket? The only thing which might prohibit lot of people from having this device will be the price tag. X