Apple and the EU bury dispute over NFC payments
- July 11, 2024
- 0
A long-standing conflict between Apple and the European Union over NFC technology in iPhones appears to be coming to an end thanks to a reflexive decision by Apple.
A long-standing conflict between Apple and the European Union over NFC technology in iPhones appears to be coming to an end thanks to a reflexive decision by Apple.
Apple and the European Union have been arguing for several years about NFC technology, which enables payments with smartphones. The EU believes that Apple should also offer external developers access to the technology. Apple is willing to do this, the EU said in a press release.
Tap and pay
The European Commission opened an investigation in 2020 into possible unfair practices related to Apple’s NFC technology, which enables easy “tap-and-pay” transactions with the iPhone. However, Apple did not want to share the technology with third-party app developers and therefore kept the technology exclusively for Apple Wallet. This made other mobile wallet providers virtually worthless for iPhone users.
The European Commission came to the same conclusion in 2022 and asked Apple to open up its NFC technology. Apple made a first attempt at reconciliation in late 2023, proposing to give developers of payment services free access to NFC functionality. The Commission considered this proposal insufficient, since the specific NFC chip would still remain behind closed doors in this case.
No more secrets
Now Apple is promising to stop keeping its NFC technology secret and is also giving developers access to the supporting hardware. Apple is even making an additional concession by allowing iOS users to set a payment app other than Apple Wallet as the default application. Apple now has until July 25 to keep its promises.
Competing applications should have the same functionality as Apple Wallet, as NFC technology is no longer exclusive. There are more than 2,500 banks in Europe that use Apple Pay, partly because there is no other alternative on iOS.
Apple and the European Union have reached an agreement regarding NFC payments, but the matter is far from over. Apple has even been officially accused of not complying with the DMA rules. As the designated gatekeeper, Apple is subject to stricter rules within the legal framework of the DMA.
Source: IT Daily
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