The EU on Thursday approved Apple’s bid to allow rivals to access the iPhone’s tap-to-pay feature within the bloc, ending a lengthy investigation and saving a hefty fine.
The case dates back to 2022, when Brussels first accused Apple of blocking rivals from its popular iPhone payment system in breach of EU competition law.
“Apple is committed to allowing competitors to access iPhone tap and go technology. Today’s decision makes Apple’s commitments binding,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
“From now on, competitors will be able to compete effectively with Apple Pay for mobile payments with the iPhone in stores. So consumers will have a wider range of secure and innovative mobile wallets to choose from,” he said.
The EU previously found that Apple enjoyed a dominant position by restricting access to tap-as-you-go, or near-field communication (NFC) chips, which allow devices to interconnect at very short range, to favor its own system.
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Now competitors will have access to the standard technology behind contactless payments to offer alternative tap-to-pay tools to iPhone users in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the EU as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway .
Only customers with an Apple ID registered in the EEA will be able to make use of these external apps, the European Commission said in a statement.
The changes must remain in place for 10 years, and Apple will have to appoint a “monitoring administrator” to report to the committee during that time on their implementation.
Apple had risked a fine of up to 10 percent of its total global annual turnover. Apple’s total revenue in the year to September 2023 was $383 billion.
“Apple Pay and Apple Wallet will continue to be available in the EEA for users and developers and will continue to provide an easy, secure and private way to pay, as well as seamlessly present statements from Apple Wallet,” the company said in a statement. statement.
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The investigation’s conclusion comes at a particularly difficult time in relations between the EU and Apple, especially regarding the bloc’s new competition rules for big tech.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) seeks to ensure tech titans don’t favor their own services over rivals, but the iPhone maker says it puts users’ privacy at risk.
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One of the main goals of the DMA is to give consumers more choice in the web browsers, app markets, search engines and other digital services they use.
The EU accused Apple in June of violating the DMA by preventing developers from freely pointing consumers to alternative channels for offers and content outside of its proprietary App Store.
It also launched another investigation under the DMA into Apple’s new fees for app developers.
The company could face heavy fines if DMA violations are confirmed.
In March, the EU fined Apple 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in a separate antitrust case, but the company appealed the penalty to an EU court.
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Brussels also forced Apple last year to remove the Lightning port for new iPhone models, in a change that was introduced globally and not just in Europe.
Source: AFP