Entertainment
Sonu Nigam invites charity foundations for gigs in December
By Natalia Ningthoujam
New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) National Award-winning singer Sonu Nigam says he will do as many charity shows as possible during the month of December, which is the peak season for concerts.
“I wanted to give December a chance because it is generally the peak season for concerts. This time, there were hardly any enquiries for charity events. Private shows and all are happening but people are not doing much for charities,” Sonu told IANS.
The reason, he says, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s move to demonetise high value currency notes – a step that was taken last year.
“Nobody wants to part with cash because of demonetisation. I am not blaming anyone. It’s a change that happened in the financial system. So people want to stay secured. They don’t want to part with their money and they want to spend less. It’s fair enough. The entire country is going through this,” he said.
“I want to give one month to it. This is kind of an invitation to all the charity organisations. I will do shows for a minimal amount so that there is a revival of such public charity events,” added the popular singer, who has given a number of hits like “Kal ho naa ho”, “Abhi mujh mein kahin”, “Main agar kahoon” and “Deewana tera”.
This isn’t the first time that he has shown interest in social causes. In the past, he had extended his support to the transgender community, held a charity concert to raise funds to educate tribal children, did a Unicef charity project, worked towards eliminating malnutrition in India and much more.
His mother Shobha Nigam lost her battle with cancer in 2013. So will his charities go to cancer foundations or are there any other causes that he would like to be attached to?
“We can’t be ’cause specific’. Of course, my mother passed away because of cancer, so cancer will be one of my primary causes but I am willing to help the orphans, old age people, something to do with vaccination, education or whatever that people want to do. I will be happy to help,” said Sonu.
Does he have any preference for cities?
“It all depends on where the foundations are from. There are no boundaries. Let them approach and then we will see how we can help them. I just want people to hold more charity events. The spirit of contributing should not go,” he said.
(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
nn/rb/bg
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.
Content provided by Adverloom