Rachel Finn and Mary Saxon of FinnSaxon Represents, San Francisco and Malibu, Calif., have been signed to handle West Coast and Texas sales for Creative Film Management International, New York, and its directors Nick Cassavetes, Matthew Penn, Lesli Linka Glatter and the mono-monikered Kaos….Kendra Gelner and Jennifer Warren have partnered to form Candyland, a repping firm in New York. The company will handle East Coast sales for directors Lance Acord, Alison Maclean, Carter Smith and Ramaa Mosley of Park Pictures, New York; director Magnus Tear of Happy Tear, Stockholm; director Tenney Fairchild of M-80 Films, Santa Monica; and bicoastal music shop Face The Music….Venice, Calif.-headquartered Metro Pictures USA has secured New York-based independent rep Arthur Portnoy to handle the East Coast, and Chicago firm Hot Betty to cover the Midwest….PS 260, the New York editorial boutique headed by editors John Zieman and JJ Lask, has signed Dan Sbrega, the in-house East Coast rep for bicoastal RAW/ Progressive Films, to handle national sales.…Andrea Andrews has joined editorial house Jigsaw, Los Angeles, as head of sales and marketing….
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