Entertainment
Great time to be an Indian actor, says Irrfan Khan
Mumbai :Actor Irrfan Khan, who is back from the premiere of his latest film “Inferno” in Florence, says this is a good time for Indian cinema and actor.
“I can say with full authority that this is a great time to be an Indian actor. Our cinema is being recognized and acknowledged internationally. Very soon Indian actors will be able to make their presence felt in every corner of the world. It’s just a matter of time,” he said.
The premiere of the film happened at an opera theatre, the Opera di Firenze in Florence, and Irrfan was delighted to hear how minutely the journalists gathered at the venue watched the film.
“They asked intricate literary questions about the film from all of us. They wanted to discuss the film’s connection with Dante’s Inferno. No one asked me about Indian politics,” said Irrfan.
The eminently international Irrfan is back in India for just a few days until his new Hollywood film “Inferno” releases on Friday.
“Actually I’m supposed to be in the US for some important meetings. I had to cancel them and get back home when my producers of ‘Inferno’, in all their wisdom, decided to release our film in India two weeks in advance of the rest of the world. That sort of threw me off gear, in a good way,” laughs Irrfan pleasurably.
“So, here I am just for a few days to do press in India,” he added.
Irrfan has plenty of reason to be flattered. The producers of “Inferno” decided to advance their film’s release in India to cash in on Irrfan’s presence in the cast.
“It is true they thought since I was in the cast, they wanted me to be the face of the film in India. I gladly and humbly accepted the honour, and here I am,” said the actor.
Tom Hanks, Irrfan’s co-star in “Inferno”, recently was quoted as saying, “I thought I was the coolest guy in the room until Irrfan walked in.”
Irrfan laughs it off as his great co-star’s magnanimity,
“Just being around Tom Hanks is so enriching for me. He is a very generous co-star, colleague and I can comfortably say we’re friends. ‘Inferno’ has a truly global cast.”
“It gave me a chance to get to know actors from all across the world. To me the biggest advantage of working abroad is the exposure I get to international talent,” he said.
The film is releasing in India on Friday.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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