Skip to main content

Another day, another antitrust claim: EU targets Apple Wallet

European Union officials have accused Apple of stifling competition from third-party mobile wallet developers in order to bolster Apple Pay.

It sent a Statement of Objection to the tech giant, together with the European Commission’s preliminary ruling that the company abused its power by restricting third-party mobile wallets from accessing Near-Field Communication (NFC), or “tap and go,” technology on iOS devices for in-store and online transactions, therefore making it impossible for European users to make necessary payments with a mobile wallet other than Apple Pay.

Related Videos

“The Commission takes issue with the decision by Apple to prevent mobile wallet app developers from accessing the necessary hardware and software (‘NFC input’) on its devices, to the benefit of its own solution, Apple Pay,” it wrote.

An iPhone using a tap-and-go payment kiosk.

Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president and chief of competition, released her own statement saying that Apple may have violated the EU’s antitrust laws by blocking its competitors from using NFC software. She said that NFC technology is developed by third-party tech companies and that “tap and go” pay has been made a standard mode of payment in nearly every store throughout Europe. Since third-party mobile companies created NFC technology, they should be able to use it, but because Apple is at the top of the rapidly growing mobile wallet market, Vestager said it has been gatekeeping it for Apple Pay users.

“Apple has built a closed ecosystem around its devices and its operating system, iOS,” Vestager said. “And Apple controls the gates to this ecosystem, setting the rules of the game for anyone who wants to reach consumers using Apple devices. But other app developers depend on the access to this ecosystem to develop innovative mobile wallets.”

The European Commission has been investigating Apple’s alleged competition misconduct involving Apple Pay since June 2020. If the company is found to have violated the region’s antitrust laws, the EU will levy fines.

Editors' Recommendations

Apple, please release the iPhone 14 in these colors next 
Mockup render of the iPhone 14 in an orange color.

You've probably heard the news by now. Earlier this week, Apple released a new yellow color for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus -- and it's now up for pre-order. Does it look good? I sure think so! It's a bright, vibrant, and saturated yellow that adds a lot of pop to a mostly muted color palette for the iPhone 14 series.

But as much as I like how the yellow looks, it's not the only color I'd love to see the iPhone come in. There are so many possibilities for future iPhone colors, and if Apple's looking for a few tips on what to do next, I have some suggestions. Here are five colors Apple should release the iPhone 14 in next (hopefully soon).
Dark green

Read more
Your Google One plan just got 2 big security updates to keep you safe online
Two Google Pixel 7 Pro smartphones.

Google just added some major new security features to keep its Google One subscribers safe while on the web. After all, the internet is where you spend a lot of your time, whether that's looking things up, paying bills, shopping, booking appointments, or sharing photos with family and friends. That’s a lot of information, and Google wants to keep subscribers safe from the darker side of the web.

Regardless of whether you use an iPhone or an Android smartphone, all Google One subscribers are getting the following two security features.
VPN by Google One for everyone

Read more
Android does this one thing so much better than iOS, and it drives me crazy
Individual volume control sliders on a Samsung Galaxy S23

I’ve long been an iPhone user and always will be — it's just what's in my blood. Even though I’ve been dipping my toes into various Android devices since I started here at Digital Trends, my primary device is still an iPhone 14 Pro. There are a few reasons behind this decision: I’m heavily vested in the Apple ecosystem already, I bought the 1TB model to not worry about storage, and some apps I use don’t have a good enough Android equivalent.

Despite my personal choice of using iOS primarily, the more time I spend with Android, the more I notice things that it does way better than Apple’s iOS. And one of those things is how Android handles volume controls compared to iOS’ rather rudimentary and infuriating system. It may sound like a small thing to home in on, but it's something I just can't overlook.
Apple’s iOS volume controls are badly outdated

Read more