European Union (EU) officials have accused Apple of suffocated competition from third-party mobile wallet developers in order to support Apple Pay.
EU sent a Statement of Objection to the tech giant- Apple Pay, together with the European Commission’s preliminary ruling that the company abused its power by limiting third-party mobile wallets from retrieving NFC, or simply “tap and go,” technology on iOS devices for online transactions and in-store. Therefore, it makes it infeasible for European users to make necessary payments with a mobile wallet other than Apple Pay.
As per the report, the commission also disagrees with Apple’s decision to prevent the mobile wallet application developers from retrieving both the software and hardware inputs on its devices to the benefit of its own set of solutions, Apple Pay.
Margrethe Vestager, the independent director and executive vice president, and chief of the competition, also unveiled that Apple may have breached the EU’s antitrust laws by checking its competitors from using NFC software. She also mentioned that NFC technology is developed by third-party technical companies and that “tap and go ” pay has made a standard mode of payment in around every store throughout Europe. Since third-party mobile companies drafted NFC technology, they should be able to use it, but because Apple is at the top of the rapidly growing mobile wallet market, Vestager said it has been guarding it for Apple Pay users.
“Vestager mentioned that Apple has given rise to a closed ecosystem around its devices and its operating system, that is- iOS. Apple also looks like a doorkeeper to this whole ecosystem, setting the rules of the game for anyone who wants to reach its entire set of potential consumers using different Apple devices. But other app developers hang on to this ecosystem to generate innovative mobile wallets.”
The EC (European Commission) has been scrutinizing Apple’s alleged competition lawlessness, which involves Apple Pay, since June 2020. If the company is hinged to have violated the region’s criminal laws, the EU will impose fines.