Arnold Worldwide has hired Kryssy Bloch as VP, director of digital talent management. She reports to Matt Howell, managing partner/global chief digital officer, and will work with him to further enhance digital talent development across Arnold’s offices and client accounts. In addition to spearheading recruitment efforts, she will partner with internal teams to develop and institute programs to promote industry-leading knowledge and thought leadership throughout the agency’s network. She is based in Arnold’s New York office.
Bloch come over to Arnold from Ogilvy & Mather where she was associate director, interactive and technology recruiting. She cut her teeth in digital at R/GA where she spent six years, her last role there being as program manager of technology. At R/GA she oversaw resourcing, recruitment and retention issues for the agency’s large technology department, and managed the internship program, which welcomed 15 to 20 international students each year.
Bloch is the latest addition to Arnold which has been on a digital hiring spree over the last 18 months. In addition to the appointment of Howell in his current post, the agency brought on nine specialists from Modernista!’s digital department. Most recently, Arnold hired two Digitas veterans, Elliott Seaborn as exec VP, executive director at Arnold Boston, and Kim Bartkowski, digital creative director at ArnoldNYC. Arnold has additionally hired 60 digital specialists in the U.S. (bringing the total to 150 globally) across social media, mobile, user experience, digital production and interaction design from various agencies.
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