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Antitrust regulators in the European Union have charged Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) with restricting rivals’ access to its Near-Field-Communication (NFC) chip technology which governs mobile payment applications.
The European Commission sent a charge sheet known as a statement of objections to Apple, detailing how the company had abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices.
Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said, in the statement, “We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices.”
“In our Statement of Objections, we preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its solution Apple Pay. If confirmed, such conduct would be illegal under our competition rules,” she elucidated.
Apple released its Tap to Pay on iPhone technology, this year in February, to protect customers’ payment data.
All transactions made using Tap to Pay on iPhone are encrypted and processed using the Secure Element, and as with Apple Pay, Apple doesn’t know what is being purchased or who is buying it.
The Commission noted that Apple's dominant position in the market for mobile wallets on its operating system iOS, restrict competition, by reserving access to NFC technology to Apple Pay, making it difficult for Apple’s competitors.
Source: European Commission
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