Independent reps Paul Saylor and Chris Breneman have partnered to form Chicago-based BS. Saylor represents bicoastal Believe Media in the Midwest, while Breneman heads up Chicago sales for bicoastal Bob Industries; Oil Factory, Hollywood; Academy, London; and Jigsaw, Los Angeles.….Chris Jennings has launched his own independent rep firm, Jennings, New York, and will be handling East Coast sales for cYclops productions, New York….Music/sound design house Hum, Santa Monica, has hired Elizabeth Patano as an in-house sales and marketing rep. She will share responsibilities for handling the Midwest and the West Coast with director of new business Tracy Reid….Becky Donahue has joined Ohio Edit, New York, as head of sales and development. She had previously been with bicoastal/international @radical.media as head of sales….DP Barry Norwood has signed with Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in commercials and music videos….DP Jonathan Taylor has just finished Alexander the Great and is once again available exclusively through the Lyons•Sheldon•Prosnit Agency, Los Angeles….
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