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Volkswagen to buy back, fix cars hit by emissions scandal

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San Francisco: German automaker Volkswagen has agreed to fix or buy back nearly half a million diesel cars sold in the US but fitted with illegal emissions software.

The settlement between Volkswagen and US Environmental Protection Agency, the state of California and consumers was announced on Thursday by US District Judge Charles Breyer at a hearing here, Xinhua news agency reported.

Breyer said the deal would allow consumers to sell their cars back to Volkswagen or get them repaired to meet the legally required emissions levels.

It also includes “substantial compensations” for consumers and investment on clean technologies to offset excess emissions.

The affected cars are VW’s 2-litre diesel passenger vehicles sold in the US between 2009 and 2015, during which the company used a “defeat device” to cheat on emissions tests and tried to cover it up.

Details of the settlement were not disclosed. Breyer set July 21 as the deadline for Volkswagen to settle with all the parties the specifics of the plan, including the amount of fines and compensations it should pay.

Hundreds of class-action lawsuits have been filed against the German automaker following its admission of emissions cheating last September. It also faces hefty US government penalties for violating pollution standards.

Analysts estimate that the cost of the final deal would far exceed the amount of money Volkswagen has set aside for the global costs from the scandal, which is $7.6 billion.

Worldwide about 11 million vehicles are involved in Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal and nearly 600,000 of them are in the US.

Earlier this year, the California Air Resources Board rejected the recall plan submitted by Volkswagen for 2-litre diesel cars sold in the state between 2009 and 2015.

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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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