Oliver Ronicle has been appointed director of group sales and marketing for Deluxe London, succeeding Terry Lansbury who retires this month. Ronicle comes over from Ascent Media where he oversaw the merger and rebranding of Todd AO and Soho Images, becoming managing director of Soho Film Lab. Prior to this, Ronicle was at Universal Pictures International, where he served as director of technical operations….Red Car has hired Jake Neske as its head of sales in New York. He will be responsible for repping Red Car’s N.Y. shop, the graphics division redhead and the company’s digital division (for web work, banners, iphone apps, and all other digital applications). Meanwhile in San Francisco, Red Car has secured Kate Blum of indie firm KB Reps to handle the Northwest territories of San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle. She will be representing the work of Red Car’s national platform of editors and of redhead…..Independent rep firm Char & Associates is now handling Santa Monica-based Workhorse Media exclusively in the West and Texas…..
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