Spencer Dodd, formerly executive producer at Gorgeous Enterprises, London, has been named exec producer/managing director for The Sweet Shop in the U.K. and Europe.
He is based in the London office of The Sweet Shop, an international production house which also maintains offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles. The overall company continues to be headed by CEO/founding partner Paul Prince.
Dodd spent the past 10 years at Gorgeous, the acclaimed shop featuring the talents of director Frank Budgen, among others. Dodd views this new chapter in his career as “an exciting challenge–growing the team, expanding the roster and developing The Sweet Shop’s presence in the U.K. and throughout Europe…The company already has a great reputation and I’m looking forward to helping them develop and grow that brand over the years ahead.”
Part of that growth will include The Rumpus Room, a sister company of The Sweet Shop specializing in content for different platforms spanning such areas as social networking, the web and non-linear advertising.
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