Gisela Knijnenburg, formerly of bicoastal Anonymous Content, has joined bicoastal Smuggler to start its in-house sales division….Peter Ziegler and Jonathan Jakubowicz of independent firm Ziegler Management have taken on East Coast representation for Incubator, a West Hollywood-based production house featuring director Tom De Cerchio….Janie Balcomb has launched Bow & Arrow, a London-based independent rep firm. The new venture’s first client for U.K. representation is Santa Monica-based Tate USA, which maintains a directorial roster consisting of Federico Brugia, Vadim Perelman, Jonathan Teplitzky, Ted Pauly, Phil Brown, James Dodson, Ago Panini, Eric King and Jason Reitman….Kathy Aronstam has joined Emoto, Santa Monica, as West Coast head of sales, commercial division. She will direct sales for both the company’s original music and music licensing services….Katie Ward has become the in-house rep covering the West Coast and Texas for San Francisco and Santa Monica-based Radium, the shop founded in 1996 by creative directors/visual effects directors Jonathan Keeton and Simon Mowbray….Cinematographer John Lindley has signed with bicoastal Paradigm for exclusive representation…..
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