Entertainment
Big B to explore his animated avatar in TV series
Mumbai: After enthralling audiences with his diverse roles in films like “Shamitabh” and “Piku”, Amitabh Bachchan will now be seen in an all-new animated avatar via a TV series. The lead character will not just look like the megastar, but will also be voiced by him.
The 72-year-old veteran actor has joined hands with Graphic India, Disney to create an animated series “Astra Force”, which is slated to air on Disney Channel India in 2017, said a statement.
“I am truly excited to be collaborating with my friends Sharad Devarajan at Graphic India and Siddharth Roy Kapur at Disney to launch this exciting new superhero series, ‘Astra Force’,” Amitabh said.
The show promises to be funny, fast-paced and full of action and adventure. It tells the story of a mythical hero, which will be played by Amitabh, who was stranded on earth millions of years ago after an epic space battle.
Amitabh, whose role as a ghost in the supernatural comedy “Bhoothnath”, earned him a massive fan following among the younger audience, said that it’s India’s time to “create new heroes and animated shows to spark the imaginations of children all across the world”.
Commenting on Disney’s collaboration with Amitabh, Siddharth Roy Kapur, managing director, Disney India, said: “At Disney, we believe in showcasing great stories with compelling characters that are loved by our audiences. It is imperative to get the local texture right for any story to resonate and emotionally connect with the viewers.
“With Mr. Bachchan associating with Graphics India and Disney Channel India on ‘Astra Force,’ we will be bringing an interesting facet to storytelling in the local animation space.”
Calling Amitabh as a “real life superhero”, Sharad Devarajan, Graphic India’s co-founder and CEO, said that the veteran actor is “the perfect person to become immortalised in this new animated avatar”.
Devarajan is the producer on “Astra Force” along with Jeevan J. Kang, senior vice president, Creative at Graphic India, who is overseeing visual development, character design and art for the project.
In addition to the partnership with Disney Channel India, Graphic India will also be launching the character in a series of digital and print comic books available on a special Facebook comic app.
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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