Entertainment
TN leaders welcome Rajinikanth’s political entry
Chennai, Dec 31 (IANS) Political leaders in Tamil Nadu on Sunday welcomed actor Rajinikanth’s entry into politics and his decision to contest the next Assembly elections.
DMK leader M.K. Stalin said Rajinikanth had finally put a full stop to the expectations of his fans but asserted that the DMK was not bothered by the actor’s political plunge.
Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, whose ruling faction suffered a shock defeat in the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency, said anyone was free to enter politics in a democracy.
Palaniswami’s rival T.T.V. Dinakaran, who was elected from R.K. Nagar by a whopping margin, also hailed Rajinikanth’s decision.
On Sunday, Rajinikanth said he would practice “spiritual politics” and contest all the 234 Assembly seats in the next elections. He said his entry into politics was a “compulsion of time”.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan welcomed Rajinikantha’s decision and hoped he would support the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
State Congress President S. Thirunavukkarasar pointed out that the actor had not come into politics fully and his comment that the system was rotten was aimed at the ruling AIADMK.
Political analyst Jhon Arokiasamy told IANS: “Urging his fans not to comment on the political situation till the party is floated shows that Rajinikanth wants to see through safely his two upcoming movies.
“His main task now is to set up the party infrastructure across the state, reactivating many of his fan clubs and converting them into a political force.”
Arokiasamy added: “What Rajinikanth’s announcement will be doing is to increase the perception that the influence of two Dravidian parties – AIADMK and DMK – in Tamil Nadu is on the decline.”
–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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