EU complaint against Apple Pay fueled by PayPal

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PayPal's complaints may have been a major factor in the EU's decision to file a declaration of objections against Apple on Monday.

According to the complaint, Apple hinders competition in the mobile-wallet sector and prevents developers from using the technology to benefit from its own Apple Pay solution.

Bloomberg has learned that rival payment platform PayPal was one of the voices that prompted the EU antitrust complaint against Apple.

PayPal offers tap-to-pay choices on Android phones and aims to bring the feature to the iPhone one day.

For a long time, Apple limited the usage of its near-field communications (NFC) technology to Apple Pay. The Cupertino tech titan claims that this makes Apple Pay far more secure than third-party payment apps on Android.

Apple only recently made the NFC chip available to app developers for use with the company's Tap to Pay function. The new capability will enable customers to make payments by utilizing their iPhone as a point-of-service device.

However, as Bloomberg points out, Apple does not permit competitor services to use the chip for payment from the iPhone.

This EU probe was formally launched in June 2020, however, the regulator first received complaints from Apple Pay competitors in 2019. It contacted online shops in October 2019 to consult on the impact of Apple and its payment system.

It was first reported that the EU will draft a statement of concerns in October 2021, shortly after Tim Cook met with EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager in New York.