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International debating fest puts media under scanner

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Kolkata: Senior journalists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Britain and the US will debate on issues ranging from credibility, objectivity of media and social media at a three-day debating festival here beginning Dec 13.

Dubbed as “Kolkata’s festival of the Spoken Word”, the fest will be centred on the theme “Media Under the Scanner”, where the spotlight will be on the role of media and how it was interpreted by the common man today.

“Panel discussions and debates will be very dynamic in format. The focus will be on issues like media ownership, whether paid news is a reality, sensationalism versus substance etc.,” said Kunal Sarkar, cardiac surgeon and president of the Calcutta Debating Circle, the organiser of the debating fest.

“The larger goal is to promote debating and expose people to talented speakers,” he said.

Some of the key speakers from India include journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Indrajit Kundu, Kishore Bhimani, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, entrepreneur Swati Gautam, actor Victor Banerjee and BJP Rajya Sabha member Chandan Mitra.

Brendan Miller and Jil Robinson from Britain, Javed Umair and Mehmal Sarfraz from Pakistan and Samuel Ward Packard from the US will be the international participants.

To be held at various locations across the city in collaboration with the Calcutta Club, Kolkata Sukriti Foundation, the British Deputy High Commission and the US Consulate General, Victoria Memorial Hall and various educational institutes, the event will witness a jury of youngsters from India judging the veteran scribes.

“Audiences and the jury of youngsters will judge the debaters,” said Sarkar.

Sessions on “Television is long dead, long live social media” and “Justice has been hijacked by media” will be interactive ones with students.

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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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