Apple avoids EU antitrust fine ᐉ News from Fakti.bg – Technozone

In January, Apple announced policy changes that will give rival Apple Pay services full access to iPhone NFC. Banking apps and alternative e-wallets will be able to be used for contactless payments using a smartphone. This decision pleased the EU – the antitrust case against Apple Pay has been closed.

After reviewing the changes proposed by the vendor, European officials announced that they were satisfied with Apple’s concessions and that a four-year investigation into alleged abuses of Apple Pay would be closed. The new API tools allow other apps to become the default wallet, which means full competition with Apple Pay: European banks and payment processors will be able to launch their own apps without being disadvantaged in terms of capabilities.

Apple has also agreed to remove the requirement for developers to have a payment service provider license in order to make contactless payments with their phone instead of a card. The company is committed to keeping the feature as industry standards evolve – even in ways that may not be feasible for Apple Pay. However, all of these capabilities will only be valid for developers in the European Economic Area – authorities in other regions will obviously have to put pressure on Apple to achieve the same terms.

It’s just one of many EU competition-related investigations into Apple in recent years. The investigation into the music streaming service concluded in January: the company was fined €1.84 billion, but has decided to appeal the decision. The fight still falls under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires iOS to be open to third-party app distribution, but Apple continues to block it, saying its proposed plan meets the requirements.