Entertainment
I was always comfortable in front of camera: Jacqueline Fernandez
Mumbai: Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez, who shot to fame in India through performances in films like “Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai” and “Kick”, says though acting was not her childhood dream, she was “always comfortable in front of the camera”.
“I did a bunch of things from the age of 14. I hosted TV shows on local channels in Bahrain and did some modelling. I was always comfortable in front of the camera,” Jacqueline said in the April issue of Jabong’s The Juice magazine in its April issue.
“I knew I’d be doing something in the entertainment industry, something that required me to be on television or required me to be a journalist or a broadcaster. I wanted to intern with CNN or BBC. Their investigative reporting inspired me.
“I even thought I’d be a documentary filmmaker, because I loved travelling,” she added.
She was such a travel junkie that when Jacqueline turned 16, she went to London on her personal investments that she had made through modelling and TV shows.
“I travelled on my own for 10 days. It was a crazy experience. On the second day, I ended up spending all my money and I still had eight more days to go – my first time there and I had no cash and was lost. There were no mobile phones then. One really sweet Indian lady helped me out,” she recollected.
Among her favourite destinations are Japan and Antarctica.
Asked about things she hates about travel, Jacqueline said: “Sometimes, I dislike airports, the immigration and the security process. It’s a big mess and is irritating.”
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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