EU to charge 'anti-competitive' Apple over reserving NFC for Apple Pay

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2021
The European Union's antitrust regulator is set to charge Apple with being anti-competitive, because of its practice of limiting iPhone NFC technology to Apple Pay.

European Commission is expected to charge Apple over
European Commission is expected to charge Apple over "anti-competitive" practices regarding Apple Pay


As the EU presses for Apple to allow alternative app stores, it is also planning to charge Apple over NFC. It follows an investigation into whether Apple unfairly shuts out competitors, giving Apple Pay a greater competitive advantage in the market.

According to Reuters, unnamed sources familiar with the regulator, say that the EU is drafting a statement of objections. This formal document is expected to be sent to Apple next year.

The news comes shortly after Tim Cook reportedly met with Margrethe Vestager, EU competition chief, in New York.

This EU investigation started formally in June 2020, but the regulator first received complaints from rivals to Apple Pay in 2019. In October 2019, it reached out to online retailers to consult over the impact of Apple and its payment system.

They were asked whether there were contractual obligations to enable particular payment methods. The survey also investigated whether apps were being rejected for failing to comply with Apple Pay terms and conditions.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    johnnybtruejohnnybtrue Posts: 26member
    So where are any real facts, just sensationalism on what the EU might do next year.  
    Really 

  • Reply 2 of 34
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,055member
    The rest of the world (especially the US & EU) should tread lightly with respect to Apple. If they start dismantling the company, they’ll go broke.  They don’t seem to have any other means of generating funds other than these endless lawsuits where Apple is always paying out. 
    edited October 2021 killroyjas99viclauyycgilly33
  • Reply 3 of 34
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,191member
    The EU can take a hike! Apple can reserve NFC for itself, they don't have to provide that capability to anyone else. The EU has no grounds to tell a company that it has to make anything that company creates available to everyone. I can create a product that only I am allowed to use and no government can tell me I am required to allow others to use it. The EU is turning into a dictatorship.
    jas99williamlondonaderuttergilly33
  • Reply 4 of 34
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,663member
    Sounds a lot like charging McDonald's for reserving their in-store menu boards to themselves and not allowing other food vendors to use it...
    edited October 2021 jas99williamlondongilly33robabaopinion
  • Reply 5 of 34
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 23,945member
    rob53 said:
    The EU can take a hike! Apple can reserve NFC for itself, they don't have to provide that capability to anyone else. The EU has no grounds to tell a company that it has to make anything that company creates available to everyone. I can create a product that only I am allowed to use and no government can tell me I am required to allow others to use it. The EU is turning into a dictatorship.
    Despite your proclamations of doing whatever you wish with something you create, the EU can assert rules and apply antitrust law if they believe your "control over your creation" to be an anticompetitive action and they can prove it. The "EU taking a hike" is unrealistic. 

    I don't agree with some of the controls (and fines) the EU is applying to Apple and others among their US tech brethen, but it should be totally clear to you and everyone else it's within their power to do so.
    edited October 2021 ksectokyojimuronnmuthuk_vanalingamnadrielrundhvid
  • Reply 6 of 34
    opinionopinion Posts: 102member
    Here we go again. Why not end the possibility for companies to compete at all and just force every company to develop, produce and support every other company´s product too. I´m so tired of a EU that completely lost it´s purpose.
    jas99llamaaderutter
  • Reply 7 of 34
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,846member
    The EU is getting a bit carried away with itself and these issues, and a lot of their "enforcement" does seem to be ideologically based rather than otherwise.

    It seems they are getting involved in this NFC/ApplePay issue because it works better — more reliably and more simply for users — than on Android where other payment systems are allowed to use the NFC chip. That just seems crazy — go after it because it's better.

    Then there's the whole USB-C nonsense: Say goodbye to innovation in ports and connectors if USB-C is mandated by law. We'll be stuck with USB-C forever because what will be the point of developing something better if you can't use it.

    I don't really think they understand what they are doing.
    rob53jas99llamaronnaderutteropinionphaseangle
  • Reply 8 of 34
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,238member
    EU seems bent on penalizing success at every opportunity.
    jas99llamahexclockaderutteropinion
  • Reply 9 of 34
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    I'll wait to read the complaint rather than hysterically wailing about something I don't understand.
    muthuk_vanalingamrundhvid
  • Reply 10 of 34
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 23,945member
    The EU is getting a bit carried away with itself and these issues, and a lot of their "enforcement" does seem to be ideologically based rather than otherwise.

    It seems they are getting involved in this NFC/ApplePay issue because it works better — more reliably and more simply for users — than on Android where other payment systems are allowed to use the NFC chip. That just seems crazy — go after it because it's better.

    Then there's the whole USB-C nonsense: Say goodbye to innovation in ports and connectors if USB-C is mandated by law. We'll be stuck with USB-C forever because what will be the point of developing something better if you can't use it.

    I don't really think they understand what they are doing.
    In practice Google Pay is both easier to use and faster to deploy on my Pixel than ApplePay is on my iPhone. There's not really much difference, mostly just an extra step on my iPhone. Each is equally as secure as the other as well. 
    edited October 2021
  • Reply 11 of 34
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,967member
    Government inevitably grows because lawmakers have to justify their existence by "doing something".  Ditto for the bureaucrats.  If they can't show that they have work to do their department would be downsized or eliminated.  So they make work.  
    opinion
  • Reply 12 of 34
    pwrmacpwrmac Posts: 48member
    Live in Europe. F*ck the EU bureaucrats! Why not force my local supermarket to offer my favorite brands I can buy somewhre else! Gues they have have found new cash cows.. US tech companies!
  • Reply 13 of 34
    dope_ahminedope_ahmine Posts: 205member
    rob53 said:
    The EU can take a hike! Apple can reserve NFC for itself, they don't have to provide that capability to anyone else. The EU has no grounds to tell a company that it has to make anything that company creates available to everyone. I can create a product that only I am allowed to use and no government can tell me I am required to allow others to use it. The EU is turning into a dictatorship.
    Not EU, but Margrethe Vestager is. She’s rabiat and envious of Apple’s business success.

    I live in Europe but would still back Tim if he decided not to sell NFC equipped iPhones in EU anymore …totally.
    edited October 2021
  • Reply 14 of 34
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Can’t wait for the EU to say BMW has an unfair monopoly on their car Fobs. 
    aderutteropiniongilly33
  • Reply 15 of 34
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,069member
    gatorguy said:
    The EU is getting a bit carried away with itself and these issues, and a lot of their "enforcement" does seem to be ideologically based rather than otherwise.

    It seems they are getting involved in this NFC/ApplePay issue because it works better — more reliably and more simply for users — than on Android where other payment systems are allowed to use the NFC chip. That just seems crazy — go after it because it's better.

    Then there's the whole USB-C nonsense: Say goodbye to innovation in ports and connectors if USB-C is mandated by law. We'll be stuck with USB-C forever because what will be the point of developing something better if you can't use it.

    I don't really think they understand what they are doing.
    In practice Google Pay is both easier to use and faster to deploy on my Pixel than ApplePay is on my iPhone. There's not really much difference, mostly just an extra step on my iPhone. Each is equally as secure as the other as well. 
    I set up my credit card on ApplePay yesterday.  Took about one minute, if that.  Not sure how much less an effort is needed.  

    That being said, I trust Apple to keep my ApplePay financial info secure and would never trust Android for that.
    williamlondonaderuttergilly33rundhvid
  • Reply 16 of 34
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,069member
    Like Epic with forcing Apple to allow 3rd-party payments, this EU debacle stinks of banks whining to get access to Apple's hardware.

    Android has a different model.  Android is just software, so it's up to the phone manufacturer to decide what they can do with NFC capabilities on what is their product.  If Samsung for example wants banks to hook into its NFC system, go right ahead.

    Apple owns the entire cycle from software to hardware and thus can maintain the control it feels necessary to keep the data of Apple's customers safe and secure.  I highly doubt the users of ApplePay are raising any kind of stink about it.   It's shameful of the EU to think that Apple should devote resources to keep NFC secure and allow others that have done nothing to use it.  Screw the EU, and screw those banks trying to ride Apple's coattail.

    If Samsung decided to do the same with their phones, would the EU be banging on Samsung's door?
    edited October 2021 chiaHedware
  • Reply 17 of 34
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,208member
    mike1 said:
    EU seems bent on penalizing success at every opportunity.
    It’s called socialism. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 18 of 34
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,140member
    Apple should stop selling the iPhone in the EU and just make an euPhone — a compliance phone designed by Brussels. Available only in brown. Certainly people can but it if they want….

    meanwhile, totally unrelated, apple could open a travel agency booking train rides from Paris to London, with a special tour of the London apple store, where unlocked iPhone models are available for sale.

  • Reply 19 of 34
    12Strangers12Strangers Posts: 65member
    hexclock said:
    mike1 said:
    EU seems bent on penalizing success at every opportunity.
    It’s called socialism. 


    Don’t try to drag your political views in to this issue, this doesn’t have anything to do with socialism.

    Just for the record, I am on Apple’s side.

    williamlondonrundhvid
  • Reply 20 of 34
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    hexclock said:
    mike1 said:
    EU seems bent on penalizing success at every opportunity.
    It’s called socialism. 
    No it isn't.  The EU does not want to own the means of production.
    rundhvid
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