Rivals will be able to use Apple’s tap-and-go mobile payment system, the EU antitrust authority announced on Thursday. However, Apple’s CEO, Margrethe Vestager, stated that the company has not yet altered its operations to conform to historic tech regulations.

According to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which mandates that Big Tech provide competitors with an even playing field and increase customer choice, the business is the subject of three investigations.

Vestager launched an investigation into new contract conditions for app developers and competing app shops after claiming last month that its App Store policies violated the DMA.

Since then, she claimed to have observed no action taken by Apple to abide by the DMA.

“What I can say so far is that we have not seen a change in behaviour on Apple’s side when it comes to our preliminary findings,” Vestager told a press conference.

“I would have hoped so because I think it will be beneficial for consumers and customers and of course respectful to the legislator to discuss in depth what would be expected from gatekeepers,” she said.

Vestager also said earlier on Thursday that she had agreed to terminate a four-year inquiry that may have resulted in a large fine by accepting Apple’s offer to allow competitors to use its tap-and-go mobile payments system.

According to the European Commission, which oversees EU antitrust enforcement, Apple’s offer is good for ten years. Apple Pay is available from more than 3,000 banks and issuers throughout Europe.

“From now on, Apple can no longer use its control over the iPhone ecosystem to keep other mobile wallets out of the market,” Vestager stated.

NFC, or near-field communication, is Apple’s tap-and-go technology that enables contactless payments via mobile wallets. Developers will now be able to pre-build payment apps for competing mobile vallet providers by using its NFC.

With this offer, Apple announced that developers in Europe will have the ability to provide tap-and-go payments from within their iOS applications for things like event tickets, corporate badges, vehicle keys, hotel keys, house keys, and hotel keys.

Vipps MobilePay, a Norwegian mobile payment programme that had voiced complaints over Apple Pay, praised the company’s concessions, claiming they now had the chance to compete on an equal footing with Apple and other suppliers.

In March, Apple received its first EU antitrust penalty of 1.84 billion euros for using its App Store to obstruct Spotify and other music streaming competitors.

In response to Microsoft’s agreement with cloud services provider CISPE to resolve an antitrust lawsuit and avert an EU probe, which was made public on Wednesday, Vestager stated, “I think it’s a promising outcome.”

(Adapted from MarketScreener.com)

Categories: Economy & Finance, Geopolitics, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Uncategorized