Motorola Moto E Budget Android Smartphone Back on Sale in India [Update]

Flipkart, Motorola's official retail partner resumed the sales of popular Moto E smartphone today, 5 June. 

This is fifth time in one month (since 14 May release date), that the e-commerce site has re-launched Moto E in India. All the previous (23 May, 30 May and 3 June) times, the phone flew off the shelves like hot cakes within few hours of its release.

It is not known if it was a staged marketing gimmick by the company, but it did create a seismic wave in the Indian budget smartphone market, that sent domestic vendors such as Micromax, Lava, Xolo and others on a launching spree to flood the markets with numerous smartphones with same specifications and price tag.

As of now, Flipkart's Moto E (both black and white models) pages are working fine (at the time of reporting), unlike previous times, wherein the company's server crashed within minutes of release, due to heavy user traffic. Pages used to show '500: Internal Sever Error'. This technical problem turned out to be a blessing for local smartphone vendors to find space to sell their devices.

[Update: 4:15 PM, 5 June, Flipkart have once ran out of Moto E  -black and white- varaints on its website; the firm has once again failed to keep up with the demand]

So far, more than five Android KitKat OS powered budget devices have hit the market since the launch of Moto E, three (Unite 2 , Canvas Engage A019 and Canvas A105) from domestic leader, Micromax; one each from sister firms - Lava (Iris X1) and Xolo (Q600s) and we can expect more firms (even MNC) to follow suit soon.

[Also read: Motorola Moto E vs. Lava Iris X1 vs. Micromax Unite 2 vs. Xolo Q600s: Specification Comparison]

Every smartphone vendor is vying for a big slice in the Indian market (world's third biggest).The subcontinent witnessed a huge growth in the handset business and grew a staggering 186-percent year-on-year in sales and close to 17.59 million shipments in the 2014 first quarter, reported IDC (International Data Corporation) India.

[Also read: Motorola Moto E vs. Nokia X vs. HTC Desire 210 vs. Sony Xperia E1: Battle between MNC-Branded Budget Smartphones Intensifies]

South Korean firm, Samsung tops the list followed by Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and Nokia finishing the top five slots. Though there is mention of Motorola in the list, the American firm has made a promising start with Moto E, Moto G and Moto X, returning this year after a one-and-half year of sabbatical in India.

Key specification of Motorola Moto E: