Banks have come forward with complaints that they pay Apple too much for Apple Pay which has accumulated to over $110 million annually.
Apple claims this is “good value” given the decreased fraud rates, but now the Treasury has become involved and is reviewing whether the Reserve Bank holds Apple in its payments regulation.
Apple maintains that “the fees it charges Australian banks for using Apple Pay are not a money-making exercise”, according to the Financial Review.
Apple’s legal vice president, Kyle Andeer, denied any fee fleecing, saying that Apple has not altered its fee structure but did not provide further detail about the fees.
“It was set very low at the time, and it remains very low,” he said.
The tech giant is not only battling banks but now under fire for preloading onto iPhones only its own apps in Australia.
Apple says apps such as Apple Music and Apple Maps are hardly flourishing to other popular preferred versions customers can still find and install from the App Store.
Further, Apple says that iPhones are set up with their own apps and not those of rivals because they want a seamless customer experience.
“When you take it out of the box, we want it to work,” they said.
Labor MP on the committee, Andrew Charlton, rejected Apple’s argument saying he did not “find it logical”.
“If you are the second, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth, or the seventh most popular app, even though you’re self-preferencing, that doesn’t mean that self-preferencing isn’t giving you some benefit,” he said.
Both the government committee ACCC case over Apple apps and parliamentary hearing regarding Apple Pay are ongoing.
