In a stinging setback for Apple, it has chosen to avoid the threat of multi-billion-dollar fines and instead open its mobile wallet technology to other providers free of charge for the next 10 years in the EU.
“Apple has committed to allow rivals to access the ‘tap and go’ technology of iPhones,” the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager said. The decision will prevent Apple “from excluding other mobile wallets from the iPhone’s ecosystem.”
Under the EU settlement, consumers in Europe will be able to use alternative digital wallets to pay for goods and services at checkouts.
Apple risks a fine of as much as 10 per cent of global annual revenue if it violates the agreement over the next decade.
The EU deal allows third-party developers access to Apple’s payment technology to allow them to create alternative mobile wallets.
Entities such as PayPal, Alphabet’s Google Pay or Samsung’s Samsung Pay might be able to get more European customers to use their apps instead of Apple’s when checking out in stores.
Apple said it is rolling out access to its payments chip in Europe while also allowing contactless transactions for car and home keys, corporate badges, loyalty cards, and event tickets.
Apple’s settlement with the EU does not spell the end of its troubled relationship with regulators in the bloc.
In June, the European Commission has come down hard on Apple this week after they found its App Store rules to be in breach of the newly-introduced Digital Markets Act (DMA). While presenting those preliminary findings stemming from an investigation that it began in March, the Commission also added that it had opened another new non-compliance investigation against Apple over concerns that its new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores, including Apple’s new “Core Technology Fee”, do not comply with Apple’s obligations under the DMA.
