Payment Card Issuer Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Apple Inc, Due To Mobile Wallet Monopoly

JAKARTA - Apple Inc was sued again on Monday, July 18 in a class action lawsuit proposed by a payment card issuer. They accused the Cupertino-based company of abusing its market power in mobile devices to thwart competition for its Apple Pay mobile wallet.

According to a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court, Apple "forced" consumers who use its smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets to use their own wallets for contactless payments. This is unlike other Android-based device makers, which allow consumers to choose their own payment wallets such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

One of the plaintiffs, Iowa's Affinity Credit Union, said Apple's anti-competitive behavior forced the more than 4.000 banks and credit unions that use Apple Pay to pay at least $1 billion in additional fees each year for the privilege.

The plaintiffs say Apple's behavior has minimized incentives for the Cupertino, California-based company by making Apple Pay work better and making it more resilient to security breaches.

"Apple's behavior harms not only issuers, but consumers and competition as a whole," the lawsuit reads, as reported by Reuters.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified triple damages, and the termination of Apple's alleged anti-competitive behavior.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, on the report.

Apple is already facing the possibility of heavy fines after European Union regulators said on May 2 that Apple had abused its dominance in iOS devices and mobile wallets by refusing to give payment rivals access to its technology.

According to the complaint, Apple charges issuers a 0.15% fee for credit transactions and a flat fee of 0.5 cents for debit transactions using Apple Pay, while Android-based competitors do not charge any fees.

The plaintiffs were represented by law firms Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Sperling & Slater.

Last August, they helped win a $100 million settlement for a smaller iOS developer, which Apple claims charged them with high commissions. This is a case of Affinity Credit Union v Apple Inc., US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-04174.