Manzana I would be ready open the NFC chip on iPhone and Apple Watch to payment platforms that compete with Apple Pay. That’s what he says Reuterswhich even mentions that Cupertino residents have already started contacting rival services to let them know about this supposed opportunity.
The above-mentioned media indicate that in this way Apple will seek to appease the European Commission. Let’s not forget that regulators have been putting pressure on Apple for quite some time to limit the use of the NFC chip in its devices for Apple Pay.
If a company is truly willing to allow third parties access to this component, it can avoid the always unwanted antitrust investigations and the hypothetical million-dollar fine if found guilty.
Of course, since this is unofficial information, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Despite attacks from Europe to stop other payment platforms from using the NFC chip in the iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple has always remained steadfast in its position. Cupertino residents argued that limiting the use of this Apple Pay equipment allowed them keep your ecosystem safe.
Competing Apple Pay wallets could access the iPhone’s NFC chip
Since 2020, the European Commission has been putting pressure on Apple for Apple Pay exclusivity to access the NFC chip of its devices. That same year, regulators began exploring the possibility of regulating contactless payment methods to ensure non-discriminatory access to existing technical infrastructure.
Although regulators did not specifically mention Apple or Apple Pay at the time, it was clear that the dart was flying in that direction. After all, NFC technology is present in almost all smartphones and smartwatches available on the market today. And for those using Android and Wear OS, there are no restrictions on banking apps or digital wallets to take advantage of technology in their payment gateways.
Rumors that Europe could officially accuse Apple of anti-competitive practices for limiting the use of NFC in Apple Pay began circulating back in 2021. Although in the end they were not justified. What did happen was that the European Commission submitted a statement of objections to the Cupertino proposals in 2022.
Regulators then indicated that by preventing access to technology that is standard for payments contactless in physical stores, Apple limited competition in the digital wallet segment for iOS.
“We have indications that Apple has limited third-party access to key technologies needed to develop competing mobile wallet solutions on its devices. In our statement of objection, we tentatively established that Apple may have limited competition to benefit its own Apple Pay solution. If confirmed, such conduct would be unlawful under our competition rules.”
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition.
Pressure from competitors
The statement of objections to Apple and the restriction that only the iPhone/Apple Watch NFC chip can be used for Apple Pay could be promoted by several competing companies in the mobile payments sector. PayPal would be at the forefront of this lawsuit. The firms in question would make several informal complaints to the European Commission to get it to take action on the matter. However, this was never officially confirmed.
As we indicated in the previous paragraphs, we should take information with a grain of salt. It is known that Apple does not usually change its position or strategy regarding its products overnight. We have already seen this in several cases. From the controversy over alternative payment methods in the App Store to the ability to install apps from third-party stores.
A company accepts “undesirable” changes only when it has no alternative. For example, with the introduction of the USB-C port on the iPhone, where this was required by European legislation. Or with the recent announcement of support for the RCS messaging protocol amid growing pressure to open up iMessage. Nothing says the Apple Pay casing and the NFC chip of an iPhone or Apple Watch are different.
In accordance with ReutersThe European Commission will evaluate Apple’s proposal to its competitors and receive their comments before formally ruling on the matter. We will closely monitor the news.
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
