Entertainment
Punjab not to ban screening of ‘Padmavati’: Amarinder
Chandigarh, Dec 9 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday made it clear that he would not stop the screening of the controversial film “Padmavati” in the state.
He also reiterated his commitment to provide a level playing field to all media organisations in the state.
In his inaugural address at the two-day national meet of journalists being organised by The Tribune Employees Union, Chandigarh in coordination with the Confederation of Newspaper and the News Agency Employees Organisation, the Chief Minister categorically rejected the threats against the makers of “Padmavati” as wrong.
He said the state governments concerned should have acted against those issuing such threats. “Such people should have been locked up,” he stressed.
“It’s a free country, with free business opportunity for all,” he said, adding it was the responsibility of the producers to ensure that history “is projected in its correct perspective”.
“While different historical perspectives can be there, any attempt to completely falsify historical facts cannot be tolerated,” he added.
This, said the Chief Minister, becomes even more necessary in the current age when children acquire knowledge through the audio-visual medium rather than by reading.
As far as Punjab was concerned, there would be no bar on the release of “Padmavati” as anything can be shown here as long as it does not hurt religious sentiments, he said.
Referring to the restrictions imposed on the media by the previous government in Punjab, Amarinder Singh said his government did not believe in such censorship and would immediately clear the formalities for any media organisation wishing to operate in the state.
“We want competition to grow so people get news as they should be getting it,” he said.
The Chief Minister urged the media, with which he said he had always shared a warm relationship, to play a far more proactive role in espousing the cause of the freedom of press for the overall development of society.
Congratulating the Confederation of Journalists Associations for bringing a large number of journalists from across the country, he assured the journalists’ unions that the state government was always open to their genuine demands.
Tribune Employees Union President Anil Gupta said the aim to organize the national summit was to understand challenges and take up the issues relating to the media with the authorities concerned.
“Vaapsi”, a Hindi short film on terrorism directed by Bobby Bajwa, was screened at the summit.
–IANS
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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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