Entertainment
Soha Ali Khan-starrer screened in Toronto
Toronto: National Award-winning director Shivaji Lotan Patil’s film “31st October”, starring Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das, was screened at the Sikh International Film Festival Toronto (SIFFT) as part of its three-day celebration of Sikh stories and storytellers.
“31st October”, a film based on the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the events that followed, was screened on Saturday at the Rose Theatre, Brampton,” read the festival’s official site sikhfoundationcanada.com.
The movie is said to be a true life story of a Sikh family in 1984.
“We begin the film with Indira Gandhi’s assassination and we show how a family survives. People have died, become drug addicts, and we have a widows’ colony. The impact of 1984 has been disastrous and permanent.
“By making this film, I am not inviting controversy or stirring a debate, but I want people to realise that such acts should not be be repeated,” said the film’s producer Harry Sachdeva.
“This film is not just based on Sikh community, it’s based on Hindu and Muslim communities as well. Each and every one will relate to this film,” he added.
Soha also took to micro-blogging site Twitter to share the response of the film at the special screening.
“Receiving so much love from people out in Toronto, glad to hear that you all loved the film. @SIFFToronto @31stOctFilm, Soha, who had earlier shared that the makers of “31st October” are looking forward to release the film on the same date in India, tweeted on Sunday.
The three-day festival will conclude on Sunday.
SIFFT is presented by the Sikh Foundation of Canada, which promotes greater understanding of the Sikh presence in the country and highlights their contributions with a focus on arts, education and culture.
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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