Rep Report
Grace Silverstein of Santa Monica-based independent rep firm Reel Grace is handling the West Coast and Texas for Motel Films, Los Angeles…..Doug Sherin and Kimberley Griswold of Venice, Calif.-based OPTiONS have signed The Joneses, Santa Monica, and Portland, Ore.-based Food Chain Films for spot representation on the West Coast…Rachel Finn and Mary Saxon of FinnSaxon Represents, Santa Monica and San Francisco, respectively, have signed Brooklyn-based animation studio Dancing Diablo for exclusive spot representation on the West Coast and in Texas….Bicoastal Trollback+Company has secured Andrea Marcucci of Agent 99, New York, to handle sales representation on the East Coast….Robert E. Blatchford has been named director of business development for Troika Design Group, Hollywood….Stephen Ostrow has come aboard Photomag Sound & Image, New York, as an account executive. He formerly served as director of sales at Betelgeuse Productions, New York….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