Postproduction and production house Optimus has added Matt McLaughlin as marketing director, and Sean Sullivan and Perry Tongate as sales reps in the Midwest and South/Southeast, respectively. With the recent announcement of West Coast director of sales Sarah Schroeder, Sullivan and Tongate round out the Optimus sales force and will further drive the company’s growth nationally. As marketing director, McLaughlin will spearhead Optimus’ overall message, including communications for ONE at Optimus and Optimus Santa Monica. The new hires represent a significant step forward in Optimus’ continued evolution as a provider of comprehensive creative services for the advertising and marketing community. McLaughlin, who has almost a decade of agency experience with firms such as Draftfcb and clients such as MillerCoors, has been working with Optimus since the fall of 2009. After collaborating with ONE at Optimus EP and managing director John Noble on direct-to-client projects, McLaughlin became marketing director of the overall organization. After working in account management at agencies including Fallon, Deutsch NY and McCann-Erickson’s Amster Yard, Sullivan struck out on his own as a rep, which he has been doing for almost 10 years. In the Texas and Southeast market for almost 12 years, Tongate has worked as an in-house rep and independently with a host of companies….Digital studio Radium/Reel FX, Santa Monica and Dallas, has brought aboard executive producer Jeb Schary to join the studio’s sales and business development team. In this role, Schary will focus his efforts on cultivating new and existing relationships with clients. He is based out of Radium/Reel FX’s Dallas studio. Schary comes to Radium/Reel FX after successful runs as EP at 3008 Editorial and Willow Street Editorial, both in Dallas….Dattner Dispoto & Associates has just signed DP John Lindley, ASC….
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