Rebecca Stambanis has joined Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., as global planning director on the Nike account. Stambanis spent the past three years as deputy head of brand strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, where she led and managed strategic planning on accounts such as Nintendo, Comcast, Haagen Dazs, The Commonwealth Bank and Dreyers…..Art director Sam Dallyn has come aboard R/GA London. He will oversee the strategy and development of integrated digital design projects for London's Nike account. He will also collaborate with R/GA's New York-based Nike team. Dallyn reports to both James Temple, R/GA London's executive creative director, and Lucio Rufo, who was recently promoted to the office's new design director. Prior to joining R/GA, Dallyn served as an art director at London digital agency Blast Radius, which focuses on customer experiences and social marketing….Fluid, a New York-based editorial, visual effects and original music studio, has added editor Micah Scarpelli to its roster. Prior to Fluid, he was with Cutting Room, and the now defunct Version2….
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More