Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the “Senior Chinese Leader Event” held by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the US-China Business Council on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week in San Francisco, California, on November 15, 2023.
Carlos Barria | AFP | Getty Images
Apple has offered to offer rivals the flexibility to access and interoperate with its contactless payment tech in an effort to appease antitrust regulators in Europe.
Apple Pay, the corporate’s mobile wallet feature, allows users to make purchases by simply tapping their iPhones, which run on Apple’s operating system called iOS. Since Apple controls this operating system exclusively, third-party mobile wallet developers’ access to its payment technology has previously been restricted.
In 2022, the European Commission, the manager body of the EU, found that since Apple Pay is the one option available to iPhone users, “such exclusionary conduct may restrict competition available in the market for mobile wallets on iOS devices.” Because of this, Apple proposed a series of commitments to deal with the commission’s concerns.
Apple said it can allow third-party developers to achieve access to the mobile payment technology, provide latest features for users like defaulting to preferred payment apps and apply “non-discriminatory eligibility criteria” for rival developers.
“Through our ongoing discussions with the European Commission, we’ve got offered commitments to offer third-party developers within the European Economic Area with an option that may enable their users to make NFC contactless payments from inside their iOS apps, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet,” an Apple spokesperson told CNBC in an announcement.
The commission said Friday that the changes would remain in place for 10 years. It’s in search of feedback on the solutions Apple has proposed.
If Apple’s commitments assuage European regulators’ competition concerns, the commission will adopt them and legally require Apple to implement the changes. If the corporate fails to comply, it could face a fantastic of as much as 10% of its total revenue.
Apple can also be facing pressure from antitrust regulators within the U.S., because the Department of Justice is reportedly shoring up a case against the corporate, based on a report from Bloomberg. The DOJ’s case reportedly centers around software and hardware limitations on iPads and iPhones that restrict competition.
The DOJ could reportedly file the suit against Apple inside first quarter, the report said.
Shares of Apple closed up greater than 1% Friday.
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