Entertainment
Game changer 6 Pack Band : Sonu Nigam
Mumbai:Singer Sonu Nigam, who has lent his support to India’s first transgender band 6 Pack Band, says that the initiative to offer the community a platform is not a “social service” but a “game-changer” in the entertainment industry.
About the band, Sonu said: “It is an outstanding initiative. I’m just honoured to be a part of it. This is not a ‘samaj seva’ that we are doing and this is going to be a game-changer in the entertainment industry whether it is in music-making or events.”
Six transgenders from Mumbai and elsewhere were selected from a group of around 200 who auditioned to be a part of the band. The youth wing of Yash Raj Films – YFilms led by Ashish Patil is the brain behind the formation of this band.
Music composer Shameer Tandon is the project curator and composed the songs starting with the recreation of Pharell Williams song “Happy”, which is a Hinglish song titled “Hum Hain Happy”.
Sonu will feature along with the band for the second song “Rab De Bande” and said that he is eager to work in the other songs from the six-song album.
“It validates my existence as a musician in the country. If I couldn’t do this, then it’s a shame on me. It’s been 25 years that I’ve been singing in Mumbai and 38 years since I started singing on stage… but I never imagined that these six are also going to come into my life.”
“I always did less work.. I’m extremely choosy about what I’m doing and who I’m working for. I work according to my wishes and doing this gave me a lot of happiness. This is just the start and my first experience itself has been so enjoyable,” he added.
Sonu made all six emotional by highlighting the discrimination against the community but then lightened the mood with his experiences from the shoot. “They do a lot of fun, talk a lot and sing lot of songs.
“They are never serious, I told them on the sets that they don’t know where their life is heading and that they have to be disciplined and sincere. And also to be aware of the fact the camera is the eyes of the world, now they’re a public property,” said the singer.
Actress Anushka Sharma has given a voiceover for the song.
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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