JWT North America has acquired Digitaria, a full-service digital agency based in San Diego and with satellite offices in Dallas, New York and Los Angeles. Purchase price was not disclosed. Dan Khabie retains his title as Digitaria CEO and will report to David Eastman, JWT North America CEO and worldwide digital director.
Founded in 1997, Digitaria has turned out such notable work as the NFL’s international site NFL-360.com, the Best Western To Go! iPhone app, and the U.S. Soccer site ussoccer.com. The 100-person shop has such clients as Qualcomm, NBC, Dreamworks and ESPN.
Digitaria retains its name and will operate as a unit of JWT North America, helping to serve JWT’s clients as well as its own existing clients using its proprietary “Digital Brand Migration” approach. The company specializes in transferring brands to multiple digital platforms such as websites, mobile devices, touch screens, social media applications and kiosks.
“JWT’s network offers a quality and scale that no other agency provides,” said Khabie. “JWT management is energized about having us join the team and we are thrilled to be a part of the organization.”
Headquartered in New York, JWT is a global network with more than 200 offices in over 90 countries employing nearly 10,000 marketing professionals.
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