Apple ready to open iPhone tap-to-pay to rivals—in the EU
Apple is prepared to open the iPhone's ability to tap-to-pay to rivals — in the EU — after coming under fire for keeping users in its own ecosystem, the European Commission and the company said on Friday.
The commission, the European Union's market regulator, said it was weighing Apple's proposal, which was made after Brussels determined that the Cupertino company enjoys a dominant position in iOS mobile wallet transactions by shutting out competitors.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIT DelhiIITD Certificate Programme in Data Science & Machine LearningVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Senior Management ProgrammeVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitSuch transactions rely on technology called Near-Field Communication (NFC) which allows users to tap a smartphone on a vendor's payment terminal instead of a credit card with a microchip.
An Apple spokeswoman told AFP: «We have offered commitments to provide third-party developers in the European Economic Area (EEA) with an option that will enable their users to make NFC contactless payments from within their iOS apps, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.»
This option would be made available in the 27 EU countries plus associated countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, which together make up the EEA.
«Apple Pay will continue to be a broadly available option, and over 3,000 issuing banks across all EEA countries will still be able to offer the unparalleled privacy and security of Apple Pay, as well as its great user experience,» the spokeswoman said.
The European Commission has invited companies in the contactless payments business to comment within a month on Apple's proposal to see if it addresses
