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Apple Not A Very Nice Company, Now The Dutch Go After Them

Apple who has become one of the most targeted tech companies in the world because of their questionable business tactics is now facing scrutiny by Dutch antitrust regulators.

The company, which has been fined millions for ripping off consumers have also been forced to pay millions after they were found to have basically stolen patented technology for use in their own products, which are primarily manufactured by third party companies such as Samsung, LG and Sharp and assembled by Foxconn.

Now Dutch antitrust regulators are probing whether users get a free choice of financial apps with contactless payments.

The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets said on Friday it started an investigation into payment apps’ access to near-field communication, which allows people to wave their phones at payment terminals to make purchases.

In 2018 the Federal Court ordered Apple Inc (Apple US) to pay $9 million in penalties for making false or misleading representations to customers with faulty iPhones and iPads about their rights under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Recently Apple agreed to pay $152 million to settle an investigation by nearly three dozen US states into the tech giant’s past practice of slowing customers’ old iPhones in an attempt to preserve their batteries.

The issue came to light in 2017 with many iPhones in Australia still facing battery problems with the Apple iPhones which are not seen as having good battery life. Even their new iPhone 12 has “shocking” battery life according to consumers who have purchased the new Apple product.

The Apple Watch SE.

Currently the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is examining Apple’s app store policies and whether more pricing transparency is needed

At present, iPhone and Apple Watch users in Australia can only make NFC payments using Apple Pay.

Banks and other competitors have complained they want the same functionality for their own iPhone apps but that Apple refuses access to the chip.

Bloomberg reported that the Dutch authority “will investigate whether limiting the payment apps’ access to NFC communication reduces the users’ freedom of choice,” it said. If it “does establish a violation, it may result in a penalty, such as a fine.”

Apple Pay’s terms and conditions for merchant apps and websites are separately the focus of an EU antitrust probe. The EU is also weighing legislation that could force Apple to open up NFC to competitors.

While Apple declined to comment directly on the investigation, it said it “designed Apple Pay as a simple and secure way for customers to use the payment card of their choice on their Apple devices.”

It said it competes every day, “working with banks, fintech’s and merchants to be the best payment option for business and consumers across the Netherlands.”



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