Global boutique production company Sweetshop has formed a joint venture with Matthew Bucher of indie firm Obsidian to serve as the production company’s Midwest sales rep. Bucher founded Obsidian in 2010 and is partnered in the firm with head of digital Brady Hurt….
Friederike Bruckert has taken on a higher level leadership position at MAXON, developer of professional 3D modeling, animation and rendering solutions. Bruckert has been appointed head of worldwide sales for MAXON. In her prior role as VP of international sales and marketing, Bruckert successfully expanded the company’s distribution chain and delivered significant year-over-year growth, including more than 20 percent in EMEA and Asia-Pacific. She is now responsible for managing MAXON’s worldwide sales team and sales partner network….
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
