EU antitrust regulators accepted Apple’s commitments on Thursday to allow rivals access to its tap-and-go payments system, bringing a four-year investigation to a close.
According to the EU executive, Apple’s pledges to provide competitors access to the “tap and go” standard technology used for contactless payments with iPhones were sufficient to allay competition concerns raised by the European Commission.
Apple is given until July 25 to make the necessary adjustments so that competitor mobile wallet developers can offer contactless payment using the widely accepted NFC technology in the EU, giving their customers the ability to “tap and go” for payments, according to the announcement.
Key iOS features like Face ID, Touch ID, and passcodes for authentication will also be available to them, including the ability to double-click apps to open them.
“The commission has decided to accept commitments offered by Apple. These commitments address our preliminary concerns that Apple may illegally have restricted competition when it comes to mobile wallets on iPhones,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said during a press conference.
In 2020, the EU formally began looking into Apple Pay. The investigation examined the terms and conditions Apple establishes for incorporating Apple Pay into websites and apps, as well as issues with tap-and-go technology and purported denials of access to Apple Pay.
“The commitments bring important changes to how Apple operates in Europe to the benefit of competitors and customers,” Vestager said.
“From now on, Apple can no longer use its control over the iPhone ecosystem to keep other mobile wallets out of the market. Competing wallet developers, as well as consumers, will benefit from these changes, opening up innovation and choice, while keeping payments secure,” she added.
We earlier reported that The iPad operating system is set to comply with the regulations of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) within six months, as per a letter issued by the European Commission to the tech giant.
