Entertainment
Including Dimpy, they are all my friends : Rahul Mahajan on Bigg Boss
Mumbai: Rahul Mahajan, who is currently under the same roof as his estranged wife Dimpy in the “Bigg Boss Halla Bol” house, says their relationship is “cordial”, and that he’s looking forward to bringing entertainment in the reality show.
Dimpy is part of the five ‘champions’ of “Bigg Boss 8”, who are now competing with ‘challengers’ – some select contestants from the show’s past seasons. Before entering “Bigg Boss Halla Bol” last week, ‘challenger’ Rahul spoke about what to expect from him this time from his stint in the show.
Excerpts:
Q. As a challenger, what special challenges do you see inside “Bigg Boss” house?
A. The challenges are for me, not for the other contestants. I think after my performance in the earlier season of “Bigg Boss”, people have a lot of expectations from me. I’ve to live up to those expectations. The challenge, therefore, is to myself.
Q. Surely you’ll have to conduct yourself in a different manner this time as compared with the previous occasion, or else your performance would look like a repeat?
A. That is inevitable. My life has changed so much since I went into “Bigg Boss” the last time. As long as I am honest and I don’t try to win votes by lying, I am sure I’ll do well for myself. I cannot pretend. I can only be myself. Every reality show, I’ve been myself only.
Q. An added incentive this time is that your wife Dimpy is also inside “Bigg Boss”?
A. Yes. she is inside. But we’re not together anymore. But we’re still on cordial terms. I am looking forward to meeting everyone, whether it is Dimpy, Gautam Gulati or Ali Quli Mirza. They are my friends. Let’s see how it goes.
Q. What is your take on the contestants this time?
A. They didn’t provide enough entertainment, so we challengers had to be brought in…We’ve been brought in because “Bigg Boss” needed old contestants to liven up things. I’ll rub this point in when I go inside.
Q. Have you planned a strategy?
A. The advantage that we challengers have is that we’re not tired. We are fresh horses in a race where the others have been around for a while and are exhausted. We five challengers have seen the other contestants from the outside. We know what they’re all about. They don’t know what we’re all about. We are raring to while they are counting the days before they can come out.We are in this to liven up things.
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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