EU Reportedly Satisfied With Apple's Plans to Open iPhone's NFC Chip to Rivals

Apple is set to conclude a lengthy antitrust investigation by the European Union into its mobile payments system by making significant concessions to give competitors access to the iPhone's NFC technology, the Financial Times reports.

apple card via apple pay
The European Commission charged Apple in 2022 with violating competition law, contending that Apple was preventing competitors from accessing its near-field communication (NFC) technology to favor Apple Pay. In response to these charges, Apple apparently made several commitments to the European Commission in January, which now appear to have satisfied the regulators.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Financial Times claims that Apple agreed to provide third-party developers with open access to the ‌iPhone‌'s NFC. This access is said to not require the use of ‌Apple Pay‌ or Apple Wallet, effectively allowing competitors to create their own contactless payment solutions. London-based payment app Curve has already expressed interest in implementing its own NFC system on the ‌iPhone‌ once the agreement is official. Apple reportedly pledged to maintain this openness for a decade.

The settlement, which is expected to be finalized over the next few weeks, should help Apple avoid a potential fine by the EU that could have been as high as 10% of the company's global annual revenue. Given Apple's reported revenue of $383 billion in 2023, the fine could have amounted to approximately $40 billion.

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Top Rated Comments

ace8cjc Avatar
8 months ago

What was Apple's argument for not allowing NFC access to apps, besides the obvious of wanting their cut from the transaction fees for using Apple Pay?
Apple tries to prioritize the user experience. By restricting NFC, they can ensure all cards are located in one reliable place - the wallet app accessed by a double-click of the side-button.

With NFC opened up, banks can pull their card from Apple Pay and force the user to open their app to access the card. They save on fees and you lose on convenience by not having all your cards in one place anymore.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
StuBeck Avatar
8 months ago
I expect a reasonable response from everyone in this thread.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DakotaGuy Avatar
8 months ago
When the EU is finally done with the iPhone it'll be running Android. ?
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brofkand Avatar
8 months ago
What was Apple's argument for not allowing NFC access to apps, besides the obvious of wanting their cut from the transaction fees for using Apple Pay?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scorpio vega Avatar
8 months ago

NFC is not an Apple invention, afaik it’s NXP and should have been open standard right from the beginning, it’s ubiquitous nowadays.
Apple was also never an open platform. I’m not sure why ppl are so against proprietary platforms.

You’re not forced to use an iPhone. You choose to. The Eu is forcing apple to be something it never intended to be.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brofkand Avatar
8 months ago

Apple tries to prioritize the user experience. By restricting NFC, they can ensure all cards are located in one reliable place - the wallet app accessed by a double-click of the side-button.

With NFC opened up, banks can pull their card from Apple Pay and force the user to open their app to access the card. They save on fees and you lose on convenience by not having all your cards in one place anymore.
Has that happened on Android, where NFC has never been restricted?

There is so much FUD on here when Apple gets forced to treat their platforms like every other platform in history has been treated.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)