Entertainment
‘PK’ scores big at Star Guild Awards 2015
Mumbai: Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani’s “PK” won the Best Film along with Best Director, Best Dialogue, Best Sound Mixing and a special award for earning over Rs.100 crore here at the the Renault Star Guild Awards 2015.
The awards ceremony took place Sunday night at Reliance Mediaworks in Film City and it was “PK” that took the maximum awards at the gala night. The film stars Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles.
The Film & Television Producers Guild of India and Wizcraft International Entertainment announced the winners in Film & Television for the year 2014.
Actor Shahid Kapoor won the award for best actor for his performance in “Haider” while Priyanka Chopra walked away with the best actress award for her role in “Mary Kom”.
Taking the podium as host, the inimitable Kapil Sharma brought his own brand of humour to the night as he enthralled audiences with his quick wit.
While megastar Amitabh Bachchan performed at Piddly song from his upcoming movie “Shamitabh”, Priyanka Chopra kicked off the night with a stunning performance on “Asalaam e ishqum” and “Ram chahe leela chahe”.
Alia Bhatt created magic on the stage with a performance on “Phataaka gudi” and “Radha on the Dance floor”. Other performances included Jacqueline Fernandes and Shahid.
Big B gave a special tribute on behalf of the Guild to late filmmaker Ravi Chopra, while Akshay Kumar honoured Sajid Nadiadwala for 60 Years of Nadiadwala grandson.
Rakesh Roshan received a Lifetime Acheivement Award that was presented to him by Jeetendra and son Hrithik Roshan. Deepika Padukone walked away with the award for Entertainer of the Year and Alia Bhatt won the Gionee Most Stylish Youth Icon Award.
Priyanka Chopra won the award for Hindustan Times Celebrity for a Cause, on the other hand the Star Plus Shining Superstar Award went to Shraddha Kapoor.
The Renault Star Guild Awards 2015 co-powered by Gionee Smartphones and Ola Cabs will telecast Jan 18 on Star Plus channel.
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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