Apple Will Again Face EU Antitrust Accusations For Restricting NFC Access

Illustration (Jonas Leupe / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Apple will face further action for violating European Union (EU) policies for restricting access to its mobile Near-Field Communication (NFC) payment system to third-party service providers.

The case, which opened in 2020, will be led by EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager investigators next week, who have found Apple is blocking third-party service providers on iPhones from accessing NFC on its mobile wallet system, Apple Pay.

By restricting access to the NFC chip, services such as PayPal, Venmo, banks, and other financial providers, cannot provide an experience similar to Apple Pay for iPhone users.

Apple itself could face severe penalties if the allegations are proven true, with fines of up to 10 percent of its global turnover. However, the company claims that the restrictions on NFC are implemented as a safeguard for user privacy and security.

It is known that this is not the first time Apple has faced antitrust charges related to Apple Pay. Last year, the EU investigated Apple for charging third parties a 30 percent fee for hosting their apps on the App Store, while promoting its own competitor's services in the same market.

Reporting from Neowin, Friday, April 29, Vestager previously stated that Apple had acquired a gatekeeper role in terms of distribution of applications and content to users on Apple devices.

Spotify has also filed a complaint against Apple about how it charges a 30 percent commission on in-app purchases and prohibits users from paying using alternative methods for in-app subscriptions.

A similar complaint was filed by the e-book company Kobo, which admitted that it was difficult to stay profitable when competing with Apple Books, which did not cost the same amount.

For your information, the EU recently approved the Digital Markets Act, which forces platform holders like Apple to allow users to download apps from third-party sources, or sideloading, a practice that has long been opposed by Apple CEO Tim Cook.

This is because of the risk it will pose to users, and definitely not because it will cut into the money Apple makes from the App Store.