Director John Grammatico has joined Los Angeles-based CoMPANY Films. He comes to the directing chair after leaving his creative director position at Doner, where he worked for such clients as Cox Communications, Del Taco and HGTV. At press time, Grammatico was helming his first project at CoMPANY: a two-spot package for M&M's out of BBDO New York….Cathleen Kisich has joined Caviar Los Angeles as a producer. She comes over from Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francisco, where she served as a producer, turning out work for clients such as Sprint, Hewlett-Packard, Nintendo, Netflix and Comcast. Born and raised in San Francisco, Cathleen started her career at Citron Haligman Bedecarré/AKQA. From there she worked at GARTNER in Santa Monica, then back up to San Francisco to work at Publicis & Hal Riney. At Riney, she was an integrated producer before landing at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners in June 2007….British editor Adam Rudd moves stateside this month to join Final Cut LA. He has spent the last four years editing out of Final Cut's London headquarters. Recent award wins for projects he worked on include the Silver Cannes Lion for the British Heart Foundation, and 14 Promax/BDA Awards for SyFy, both for Director Brett Foraker. Other notable 2010 work includes the 3D Gucci “Guilty” campaign, the UK launch of “The Event,” and Audi's “Future”…
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