Entertainment
Was worried what my parents think after seeing me in Dirty Picture: Vidya Balan
Bollywood actress has carved her own niche by giving some memorable performances in films like Kahaani, Paa, The Dirty Picture, Tumhari Sulu and many others. Fans praised her performance in The Dirty Picture, where she portrayed the character of actress Silk Smitha and even bagged the National Award for her role. Though in a recent interview, Vidya revealed that he was quite worried about how parents will react to it as she told E Times, “We have had support; we were never judged. For example, during the screening of ‘The Dirty Picture’, I was worried about how they would react and was waiting outside the screening room during the interval. But when they came out of the screening, my father actually clapped and said, ‘I didn’t see my daughter anywhere in the film’. And my mother cried when the movie ended. Firstly, it was tough for her to see me die on-screen. But most importantly, she said that not for a moment did she feel that I looked cheap, which was a huge compliment coming from her. Because there is a thin line between being sexy and sleazy. But I think, for that, I am grateful to the people I have worked with.”
Speaking about her upbringing, she added, “We were just allowed to be us. More importantly, we were never held back from anything because we were girls. And that’s the most precious thing about our upbringing. My sister Priya is four years elder than me. Both of us have done whatever we wanted to do in our lives, be it professionally or personally. Even at times when we feared our parents’ reaction, we were honest with them because they treated us as individuals. Both my parents deserve equal credit but more so my father. He could have ended up being patriarchal, but he did not, and I am very proud of him.”
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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