Apple to face antitrust charges for restricting NFC payments to third parties

[silversurfer]

Content source

https://www.neowin.net/news/apple-to-face-antitrust-charges-for-restricting-nfc-payments-to-third-parties/

Another antitrust case comes the Apple way and this time, it is about Apple Pay. According to the Financial Times, EU investigators led by competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager have found Apple in violation of blocking third-party service providers from accessing NFC on its mobile wallet system - Apple Pay.

The investigation was opened in 2020 by the European Commission. The investigation contested that Apple reserves the "tap and go" functionality of iPhones to Apple Pay and not other third party services like PayPal, Venmo, and other banks. Apple says that allowing third party services would breach the security and privacy of its users.

This isn't the first time Apple has is facing antitrust charges regarding Apple Pay. Last year, the EU investigated Apple for charging third parties a 30 percent fee for hosting their apps on the App Store while promoting its own competing services on the same marketplace.

Apple to face antitrust charges for restricting NFC payments to third parties

The European Commission will be charging Apple for violation of blocking third party services like PayPal to access the "tap and go" NFC feature of iPhone as part of its antitrust investigation.

www.neowin.net

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

As an Apple fanboy I must say I’m getting sick of all these johnny-come-lately’s whinging about Apple this and Apple that… boo hoo!

FFS, is there no payoff for being innovative in this day and age? I like Apple expressly because they run a tight ecosystem and keep all this other rubbish out…

 

[upnorth]

Apple has "abused its dominant position" to give Apple Pay an advantage over competitors on iPhones and other iOS devices, the European Commission said Monday. The EC informed Apple of its view in a Statement of Objections.

The preliminary finding "takes issue with the decision by Apple to prevent mobile wallets app developers from accessing the necessary hardware and software ('NFC input') on its devices, to the benefit of its own solution, Apple Pay," the EC said. "We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices," said EC Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager. "Tap and go" technology that uses near-field communication (NFC) "enables communication between a mobile phone and payments terminals in stores," the EC noted. But "Apple Pay is the only mobile wallet solution that may access the necessary NFC input on iOS. Apple does not make it available to third-party app developers of mobile wallets," the announcement said.

"By limiting access to a standard technology used for contactless payments with mobile devices in stores... Apple restricts competition in the mobile wallets market on iOS," the EC said.

Apple slammed by EU for denying Apple Pay rivals access to iPhone’s NFC tech

Apple accused of violating EU antitrust law by only letting Apple Pay use NFC.

arstechnica.com