EU Set To Approve Apple Plan For Opening NFC Access

EU antitrust regulators are reportedly set to approve Apple’s proposal for allowing third parties to access the near-field communications (NFC) technology in iPhones, iPads and other devices, with a decision due as early as next month.

The European Commission is ready to approve Apple’s plan after the company made changes to some of its terms, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

A deal would resolve the two-year-old dispute under which the Commission accused Apple of abusing its market dominance to shut out rivals of its own Apple Pay contactless payments offering.

In January Apple offered to allow rival mobile wallets access to the underlying NFC technology in its devices free of charge, without having ot use Apple Pay or Apple Wallet, based on fair and non-discriminatory criteria.

Default payment method

It said competitors would be allowed to enable users to set their apps as the default payment method and would be allowed to use FaceID as an authentication method.

The company also set up a settlement mechanism for the arrangement, which would be for 10 years.

The Commission asked the company to change some of its terms following feedback from competitors and customers.

Apple is trying to settle the dispute without a finding of wrongdoing and avoiding a potential fine of up to 10 percent of its annual turnover.

Final technical details

The Commission is waiting for Apple to iron out final technical details and aims to approve the settlement before the summer, with May a likely month, Reuters said.

Apple was hit by a record 1.8 billion euros (£1.6bn) EU fine in March over its restrictions on music-streaming apps on its platforms.

The company is also facing EU regulatory scrutiny of its plans for opening up its iOS operating system to third-party app stores, as it is required to do under new Digital Markets Act rules.