Another antitrust case comes the Apple way and this time, it is about Apple Pay. According to the Financial Times, EU investigators led by competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager have found Apple in violation of blocking third-party service providers from accessing NFC on its mobile wallet system - Apple Pay.
The investigation was opened in 2020 by the European Commission. The investigation contested that Apple reserves the "tap and go" functionality of iPhones to Apple Pay and not other third party services like PayPal, Venmo, and other banks. Apple says that allowing third party services would breach the security and privacy of its users.
This isn"t the first time Apple has is facing antitrust charges regarding Apple Pay. Last year, the EU investigated Apple for charging third parties a 30 percent fee for hosting their apps on the App Store while promoting its own competing services on the same marketplace.
Vestager had earlier stated that Apple has obtained a "gatekeeper" role when it came to the distribution of apps and content to users on Apple devices. Spotify had also filed a complaint against Apple about how it takes 30% commission from in-app purchases while forbidding users to pay using alternative methods for subscriptions inside apps.
A similar complaint was filed by e-book company Kobo which said that it was difficult for them to remain profitable while competing with Apple Books, which didn"t incur the same costs.
Apple might have to pay up to 10% of its global turnover in fines if the company is found guilty.
The Cupertino company has already accumulated over €45 million in penalties up to the end of the March according to Reuters.
Source: The Financial Times