Apple is once again attacked on the lack of opening of the NFC of the iPhone, usable only by Apple Pay for mobile payment.
The noose is once again tightening around the firm at the apple and its practices deemed anti-competitive by many regulators, but also companies.
Apple accused once again of locking its devices to favor Apple Pay
The latest complaint has just been filed by Affinity Credit Union, a company located in Iowa and which issues payment cards, which are also compatible with Apple Pay.
The company’s lawyers believe that Apple assumes the right to use the NFC chip of the iPhone to promote its Apple Pay mobile payment system. Indeed, it is not possible for a Google Pay or PayPal to use the component to offer their own payment solutions.
Affinity Credit Union also explains in its complaint that Apple charges a commission of up to 0.15% of the payment amount for each transaction. Conversely, its competitors do not charge it anything when paying Apple Pay from an Android device.
A complaint which adds to the investigation opened by the European Commission
This isn’t the first time Apple has been accused of creating a monopoly around Apple Pay. The European Commission is looking into the subject in particular. To do this, it opened an investigation in early May 2022 to determine whether the manufacturer was restricting access to the features of its devices in order to favor its in-house payment solution. The Californian brand also risks a maximum fine equivalent to 10% of its worldwide turnover.
The law firm Hagens Berman, which represents Affinity Credit Union, for its part expressed the wish to transform the complaint into a class action so that other payment companies join them. The objective would be to obtain the reimbursement of the charges which would have been deducted illegally, but also a modification of the policy of Apple and the general conditions of Apple Pay.
A judge must now rule on this request to validate the passage of the complaint in class action. The law firm can nevertheless be confident, since this is not its first fight against Apple. He had notably succeeded in obtaining the payment of 100 million dollars from developers who protested against the general conditions of the App Store, and of 400 million dollars reimbursed to customers after proving that the manufacturer had agreed with several publishers to drive up prices on its platform.
Source : The Verge
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