Lava, this week, has launched a made-to-order smartphone service in India.

You can buy a Z2, Z4 or Z6 Android handset and customize it with myZ by 66 "unique" ways. Your purchase can be made-to-order before delivery and upgradable after receipt. For example, you can add more memory, input a better camera, or spec a crazy color.

Lava has lost a huge chunk of its smartphone marketshare in India during the past decade and this is clearly an attempt to differentiate and recover the brand. Lava wants to be seen as a cool player with a nimble supply chain.

Whether Lava succeeds is open to debate. Tailor-making a handset 66 ways is complex and not cheap. The process may be prone to errors. Rivals, like Moto Mods, have tried in the past to sell modular phones with heavy customization -- and failed. Consumers typically cannot be "bothered" to play around with a fiddly list of options.

We applaud this retail innovation from Lava. But its chances of success look modest at best.