EK criticizes Apple for limiting other developers’ access to the hardware and software needed in its mobile phones and tablets. According to the Commission, this prevents the development of alternative mobile wallets, which is against antitrust rules.
Apple, however, claims that the Apple Pay application is just one of the many payment options on the market.
The European Commission has imposed a fine of one billion on Intel
If the EC’s charges are confirmed, Apple could be fined up to 10% of its annual sales. In the last financial year they reached $365 billion, which means that the maximum fine could reach the astronomical figure of $36 billion, or around 857 billion crowns.
Understandably the American tech giant wants to avoid this. As part of the concessions, it therefore offered other companies on the market access to mobile payment technologies, which are crucial for the functioning of mobile wallets, to avoid the risk of a large fine from the EU. This commitment should be valid for ten years.
The EC has now invited competing companies to send their views and reactions to this change. Only after their analysis will it be decided whether Apple’s offer will be accepted.
A closed ecosystem
The Apple Pay payment system is used on hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad devices around the world. The Commission highlights that Apple has a dominant position in the mobile payments market and that it creates a closed ecosystem in its devices that effectively prevents other developers from creating and offering competing payment applications.
“For the integration of the European payments market, it is important that consumers can benefit from a competitive and innovative payment environment. There are indications that Apple has limited the access of other companies to the technologies necessary for developing competitive solutions for mobile payments on its devices,” EC Vice President Margrethe Vestagerová said previously. In the Commission you are responsible for compliance with the competition rules.
If the EC does not join the proposed solution, the whole dispute could reach the EU court. The case can drag on for several years.
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2024-01-19 15:06:03
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