Entertainment
SRK hopes to find warmth in cold Davos (Lead)
Davos, Jan 22 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who is in Davos to receive an honour at the 24th Annual Crystal Awards, hopes to feel the warmth of love and friendship in the alpine resort town. He is also looking forward to his “fan moment” with other star awardees Elton John and Cate Blanchett.
“Bhai sahib kaafi thand hai (It’s quite cold)!!! Hope to find some love and friendship to keep me warm here. Thank you World Economic Forum for the honour and for having me over. Davos diaries,” Shah Rukh tweeted on Monday.
His post was accompanied by a photograph featuring the actor with a pristine white snow-clad landscape as the backdrop.
Shah Rukh will be honoured at the 24th Annual Crystal Awards — as part of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 48th Annual Meeting here — for his leadership in championing children’s and women’s rights in India, on Monday night.
Actor-director Cate Blanchett and singer Elton John are the other awardees this year.
In another tweet, Shah Rukh wrote: “Honoured to receive the WEF’s 24th Crystal Award, together with Elton John and Cate Blanchett. My fan moment!!”
Shah Rukh, one of Hindi cinema’s most globally known faces, is being feted as he is a founder of the non-profit Meer Foundation, which provides support to female victims of acid attacks and major burn injuries through medical treatment, legal aid, vocational training, rehabilitation and livelihood support.
He has also been responsible for the creation of specialised children’s hospital wards and has supported child care centres with free boarding for children undergoing cancer treatment.
In an earlier statement, Shah Rukh said: “I consider my work with these heroic and beautiful women a great privilege as it imparts dignity and purpose to my life. I hope to spread awareness of the unparalleled heroism of these ladies and reach out to others in order to carry this work to its conclusion.”
This year, the World Economic Forum will have the first Indian Prime Minister participating since 1997. Narendra Modi will address the plenary session of the prestigious global business meet.
–IANS
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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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