Entertainment
My relationship with Farhan no longer same: Abhishek Kapoor
New Delhi: The making and breaking of friendships is nothing new in Bollywood.”Rock On!!” director Abhishek Kapoor says his bond with actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar is not the same ever since a controversy erupted over the script of “Rock On 2”.
“I wouldn’t say that the relationship (with Farhan) is the same. It is unfortunate that this is happening. I would like to believe that he (Farhan) has been misled,” Kapoor told IANS during a telephonic conversation from Poland, where he was shooting his next film “Fitoor”.
“Rock On 2!!” is the sequel of the 2008 Indian rock music drama “Rock On!!”, in which Kapoor directed Farhan.
However, Kapoor has moved the Bombay High Court to stall the making of the sequel to the film, claiming that he had been working on it since September 2011 and he has accused Farhan’s production banner Excel Entertainment of giving writer Pubali Chaudhuri sole credit for the script.
Talking about the matter, Kapoor said: “At the moment, we are in court. It is the script that I have written and the producers are not giving me credit for it. I just want credit for my script and I don’t know where is the problem.
“It takes a lot to write a movie and develop a film and when someone doesn’t give credit for that, that’s not good. It’s a matter of principles,” he added.
Kapoor’s next film “Fitoor” features actors Katrina Kaif and Aditya Roy Kapur. The romantic drama film also stars Aditi Rao Hydari, Tabu, Lara Dutta and Rahul Bhatt.
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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