Entertainment
First look of ‘Welcome Back’ out
Mumbai: The first look of filmmaker Anees Bazmee’s “Welcome Back”, a sequel to his 2007 comedy film “Welcome”, was introduced by Eros Now, the online on-demand entertainment portal from Eros International on Sunday on its social media page.
Although Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, who had starred in the first part of the franchise will not reprise their roles in “Welcome Back”, the film still includes a huge line-up starting from Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal returning with their respective roles.
Among the new actors joining the cast are John Abraham, Naseeruddin Shah, Shruti Haasan and Dimple Kapadia.
The first look of the film was launched in a unique style by introducing every actor with their respective role.
While the names of the characters being played by all the actors have been mentioned in their introduction, the character essayed by Shruti has been left a mystery.
John, who looks dapper in a white suit along with a gun in his hand, shared the official poster of the film on Twitter.
“First Look #WelcomeBack @ErosNow,” he captioned the photograph.
Anil, who is returning with his role of Majnu Bhai, too shared the first look on the micro-blogging site and tweeted: “#WelcomeBack…naam toh suna hoga…miss toh kiya hoga!”..
“Welcome Back” is slated to release on September 4. The trailer of the film will release on Monday.
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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