Bicoastal M-80 Films is now a one-director shop—the resident helmer being Tenney Fairchild, who will continue to team with M-80 executive producer Gregg Stern. M-80 remains part of the Stoney Road family of companies. Stern explained that he and Fairchild wanted to run as a leaner operation. Meanwhile, several other directors who were at M-80 will be part of an as yet unnamed house under the aegis of executive producer Matthew McManus; the new venture will also be a Stoney Road shop…. Bicoastal Coppos Films has signed director Jeffrey Karoff for exclusive spot representation….Bicoastal Zooma Zooma has signed director Sasha Levinson for commercials….Russell Ziecker has been named CEO of Syn America, the newly launched U.S. arm of Tokyo-headquartered Syn Corp. Syn’s U.S. operation will include the formation of a record label and a commercial music production division by the end of 2001….A correction on a recent Street Talk item (8/14, p. 30): Doug Wedeck is maintaining Single Bid, New York, after the departure of Heidi Gottlieb (see story p. 6). Wedeck, who currently holds the title of co-founder at Single Bid, and Gottlieb had been serving as partners/co-presidents at the sales and marketing firm. Single Bid’s roster includes Storyville Pictures, Los Angeles and Atlanta; Spoke Films, Los Angeles and Chicago; Element Music & Sound, Santa Monica; and newly signed Engine Media, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.….
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