Entertainment
‘Padmavati’ to finally release in February 2018!
MUMBAI : Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmavati’ starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor has been in the news ever since its inception. From controversies to pushing off the release dates, ‘Padmavati’ has been facing many unending issues while reaching to its audience.
The period drama which was to release this November was rumoured to be getting postponed to next year because of the shooting delays. Even though the makers refuted these reports, now as per the latest industry buzz the movie will release in February 2018.
As per reports, the shoot was delayed due to the protests in Rajasthan which ultimately resulted in the post-production getting affected. Thus, Bhansali did not want to rush into things and decided to postpone the release to avoid a shoddy output. A source revealed to a leading daily, “SLB had an October 20 deadline, which is impossible to meet now. The workers’ strike took away a few important days. Meanwhile, two of the principal actors — Deepika and Shahid — also had free dates, so they took off on vacations. A lot of the shoot is still left. The major chunk may have been shot, but some big action sequences are still left. Ranveer’s portions as the young Alauddin Khilji, too, remain to be shot.” The source further added, “The makers are planning to release it in February 2018. Apart from Anushka Sharma’s ‘Pari’ (February 9, 2018), no other big film is slotted for February.”
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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