Apple offers to open up NFC payments access to settle EU antitrust probe

Apple has moved to head off European Commission antitrust charges by offering third-party party providers access to the NFC chip technology that enables iPhone users to make contactless payments. Apple is seeking to resolve the antitrust case brought in 2022 and avoid a fine that could run into the billions of dollars. To do this, the US giant is offering to allow third-party mobile wallet and payment service providers to access and interoperate the NFC functionality on iOS devices through a set of APIs free of charge, without having to use Apple Pay or Apple Wallet. Apple would create the necessary APIs to allow equivalent access to the NFC components in the Host Card Emulation mode, a technology issued to securely store payment credentials and complete transactions, without relying on an in-device secure element. The agreement, which would run for 10 years, would cover all third-party mobile wallet app developers established in the European Economic Area and all iOS users with an Apple ID registered in the EEA. In addition, Apple would not prevent the use of these app for payments in stores outside of the EEA. Apple is also promising to allow the defaulting of preferred payment apps, access to authentication features such as FaceID, and a suppression mechanism. The EC is now giving competitors and customers one month to comment on the commitments. Apple Pay is the only mobile payment service that may access the NFC ‘tap and go’ technology embedded on iOS mobile devices for payments in stores, a process that has been damned by banks in a number of jurisdictions for preventing competition from their own proprietary apps. In the US, a judge recently told the company that it must face an antitrust class-action lawsuit from card issuers on the issue, while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has also fired a shot across Apple’s bows.