EC Informs Apple of Objections for Apple Pay Service

The European Commission has informed Apple of its preliminary view that it abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices. By limiting access to a standard technology used for contactless payments with mobile devices in stores, Apple restricts competition in the mobile wallets market on iOS. The Commission takes issue with the decision by Apple to prevent mobile wallets app developers, from accessing the necessary hardware and software (‘NFC input') on its devices, to the benefit of its solution, Apple Pay.

“Mobile payments play a rapidly growing role in our digital economy. It is important for the integration of European Payments markets that consumers benefit from a competitive and innovative payments landscape. We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices. In our Statement of Objections, we preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its solution Apple Pay. If confirmed, such conduct would be illegal under our competition rules,“ said EC Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager.

The Commission preliminarily considers that Apple enjoys significant market power in the market for smart mobile devices and a dominant position in mobile wallet markets. In particular, Apple Pay is the only mobile wallet solution that may access the necessary NFC input on iOS. Apple does not make it available to third-party app developers of mobile wallets. The Commission's preliminary view is that Apple's dominant position in the market for mobile wallets on its operating system iOS, restricts competition, by reserving access to NFC technology to Apple Pay. If confirmed, this conduct would infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.