Apps that matter

At the launch event for the Moto E, the company showcased another of its apps—the Moto Alert app, which provides emergency services. This app lets you periodically notify your near and dear ones of your whereabouts to enable them to help you if necessary. You can set your locations as ‘home’, ‘work’, ‘school’, etc. In addition, the app also lets you trigger an alarm or automatically call your emergency contacts. You can also press the lock button five times to trigger an alarm on your phone. This app has received quite a few positive reviews from users.

Previously owned by Google, Motorola has been sold to Chinese PC giant Lenovo, recently. The complete process of acquisition should be over by the end of the year. Motorola, though, has been on a mission to regain its share in the smartphone market. The company has repeatedly talked about how important the Indian market is for it, and with both the Moto G and Moto E doing well, this has been a good start for the firm.

While it is still setting up its business in the country, the current partnership with Flipkart seems to be working well for Motorola. Soni said that Motorola’s focus right now is to set up its base in India, and the makers of the first mobile phone seem to be doing that well. This was also confirmed by Magnus Ahlqvist, corporate vice president for EMEA and APAC, Motorola.

Whether Motorola will have open source initiatives for its smartphones in the future remains to be seen. But like we said earlier, there’s a good chance that it will. Soni did not rule out the possibility but the company is understandably focusing more on rebuilding its base in India rather than on developer initiatives. Pure Android is working for the firm at the moment. The Moto Assist and Moto Alert apps may lead to a lot more.