The European Union’s antitrust regulator said on Thursday that Apple will open up its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals, but its chief executive Margrethe Vestager said the iPhone maker has not yet changed its business practices to comply with groundbreaking technology rules.
The company is facing three investigations under the Digital Markets Act, which requires big tech companies to offer competitors a level playing field and more choice for users.
Vestager said last month that her company’s App Store rules violated the DMA and launched an investigation into new contract terms for app developers and rival app stores.
She said Apple has made no moves to comply with the DMA since then.
“What I can say so far is that our preliminary findings have not resulted in any change in Apple’s behavior,” Vestager said at a press conference.
“I would have preferred that, because I think it would be beneficial for consumers and customers and of course also respectful to lawmakers to have a detailed discussion of what is expected of gatekeepers,” she said.
Meanwhile, Vestager said Thursday she had accepted Apple’s offer to open up its tap-and-go mobile payments system to competitors in an effort to end a four-year investigation that could have led to hefty fines.
The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcement agency, said Apple’s proposal would remain in force for 10 years. More than 3,000 banks and card issuers in Europe offer Apple Pay.
“Apple will no longer be able to use its control over the iPhone ecosystem to shut out other mobile wallets,” Vestager said.
Apple’s tap-and-go technology, called Near Field Communication (NFC), enables contactless payments with its mobile wallet, and the company will now allow developers to access NFC to pre-build payment apps for competing mobile valet providers.
Apple said the proposal would give European developers the option to enable tap-and-go payments for car keys, closed-loop transport, corporate badges, house keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty/rewards and event tickets from within their iOS apps.
Norwegian mobile payments app Vipps MobilePay, which had been vocal about its dissatisfaction with Apple Pay, welcomed the company’s concessions, saying they would give it an opportunity to compete on an equal footing with Apple and other providers.
In March, Apple was fined 1.84 billion euros — its first fine — for violating EU antitrust laws over restrictions on its App Store that stifled competition from Spotify and other music-streaming rivals.
“I think it’s a promising outcome,” Vestager said of Microsoft’s deal announced Wednesday to settle antitrust complaints with cloud services organization CISPE in an effort to thwart the EU investigation.
