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Revival plan approved, SpiceJet opens bookings

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New Delhi: A day after the civil aviation ministry approved its revival plan, budget passenger carrier SpiceJet Thursday opened bookings for flights in the upcoming summer schedule.

According to the airline, the bookings are now open for flights from March 29 to Oct 24, 2015.

On Wednesday, the ministry had approved the revival plan of the cash-strapped airline.

According to a ministry official, the revival plan which includes influx of fresh funds to restore the airline’s operations under the new promoters was approved by the ministry.

The official further said that the ministry has forwarded the revival plan to market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which will take a call on whether to exempt the airline from going ahead with transfer of ownership.

Under the current regulations any transaction of more than 25 percent in a listed company triggers an open offer.

The airline has asked the market regulator to exempt it from the regulation so that it can go ahead with the planned transaction that is expected to restore its financial health and operations.

On Jan 15, the airline said that its current promoter Kalanithi Maran will off-load his stake in the company to new promoter Ajay Singh after regulatory clearances.

A regulatory filing was made in this regard at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). However, the filing did not disclose any financial details.

This is Singh’s second innings with the airlines which he co-founded with Bhupendra Kansagra in 2005. However, he had sold his stake along with Kansagra and assets buyout specialist Wilbur Ross in 2010 to Sun Group’s Kalanithi Maran.

Currently, Maran, together with his KAL Airways, holds 53.5 percent stake in SpiceJet, while Singh has a 4.5 percent stake. Maran acquired SpiceJet for close to Rs.750 crore.

In December, Maran made it clear that no fresh bailout package could be put together for the airline in which nearly $400 million or Rs.2,500 crore has been invested since 2010.

The airline is hopeful that with the new promoter at the helm, fresh funds will be infused to strengthen its operations.

The company had also made it apparent to the ministry that new promoter Singh — with his revival plan — will help it tide over the current financial turmoil.

Entertainment

Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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