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Nandita Das joins rally for gender parity at Toronto

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Toronto, Sep 9 (IANS) High-profile celebrities from the film world, including Indian actress-director Nandita Das, called for gender equality in showbiz at a rally at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Director Geena Davis and Oscar-winning producer Cathy Schulman were among the several others who on Saturday spoke about the need for gender parity. It was the first TIFF since movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was toppled by sexual assault allegations.

Before the ‘Share Her Journey’ rally, artistic director Cameron Bailey pledged TIFF’s support for a broader industry gender parity movement called 50/50 by 2020.

The Directors Guild of Canada also used TIFF to launch a national campaign called “So Not Cool,” which encourages bystanders, actors and film crews to build safe, respectful environments on and off movie sets.

On her part, Nandita, whose forthcoming drama “Manto” had its North American premiere here, said she was now proud to be called as a woman director and wanted to see more women stepping into filmmaking.

“I used to get upset about with how people called me a ‘woman director’. But for the past few years I have begun owning it. I would like to be just called a director but for the last few years I love to be called a woman director.”

The 48-year-old Nandita also raised concerns over the skewed man-woman sex ratio in South Asia.

“We are still struggling with sex ratio. There are little girls who are not being allowed to born. There are many missing girls. It is a land of paradoxes.

“We all should have a collective will to see the world as more equal and more peaceful place. It is up to us on how to change this world and make a better place to live in,” she added.

Earlier this year, Nandita attended the Cannes Film Festival where she, along with a host of other women celebrities, protested against the gender gap.

–IANS
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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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