Entertainment
Radiant in red, Sonam Kapoor weds Anand Ahuja See pictures
Actress Sonam Kapoor, who has earned the ‘fashionista’ tag in Bollywood with her experimental taste, chose a traditional bright red lehenga with heavy jewellery for her wedding day as she tied the knot with long-time beau Anand Ahuja at a ceremony here on Tuesday morning.
Sonam wore a lotus-motif ensemble by designer Anuradha Vakil and looked every bit the Punjabi bride with her hands adorned by a deep maroon colour of henna, both wrists full of the ‘chooda’ and ‘kaleere’. She wore a statement maatha-patti.
The groom, a Delhi-based businessman, too looked dapper in a Raghavendra Rathore creation, a beige sherwani. He paired his sherwani with a beige and cream ‘saafa’ along with pearl and ruby strings.
The wedding took place at Sonam’s aunt’s place in Bandra here, with a slew of close family and friends of the couple in attendance.
The wedding proceedings were closely guarded as even Sonam arrived at the venue in a car with curtains hiding her look from the media.
Later, an official photograph of the actress in her bridal avatar was released. However, curious fans of the actress were filled in with inside photographs and video snippets via social media.
A short video showcasing Sonam walking the aisle saw the actress being accompanied by her brothers, led by Harshvardhan and cousin Arjun.
Sonam’s father and veteran actor Anil Kapoor and brother Harshvardhan looked smart in sherwanis while cousins Janhvi, Khushi, Anshula, Shanaya and Arjun were dressed in ethnic designer wear for the special day.
Other family members Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor and Maheep Kapoor too were present for the occasion.
From the film and fashion industry, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Jacqueline Fernandez, Rani Mukerji, Swara Bhasker, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Karisma Kapoor, designer Masaba Gupta and stylist Pernia Qureshi were present.
The actress’ “Veere Di Wedding” co-star Kareena looked elegant in a soft pink ensemble as she walked colour co-ordinated with husband Saif and son Taimur.
Sonam, after debuting in Bollywood with “Saawariya” in 2008, has featured in movies like “Delhi-6”, “Aisha”, “Raanjhanaa”, “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, “Khoobsurat”, “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo”, “Neerja” and “Pad Man”.
Her performance in “Neerja” won her a Special Mention at the National Film Awards.
Sonam is known for her unique but impeccable taste in fashion and is known to be quite a trendsetter.
Before what seems like bringing red back in fashion with her bridal outfit on Tuesday, Sonam chose to go with subtle colours for her pre-wedding ceremonies.
For her mehendi function on Sunday, she chose a peach and grey sharara ensemble by Vakil, and for her grand sangeet celebrations on Monday, she was elegance personified in a heavy ivory lehenga by Abu Janu-Sandeep Khosla.
The newlywed will make an appearance together for the media on Tuesday evening at a grand reception party at The Leela here.
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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