The European Commission announced that Apple has committed to addressing antitrust concerns about Apple Pay by allowing third-party mobile wallet and payment services to work with the iPhone. The information comes from The Wall Street Journal.
According to the publication, Apple agreed to “allow companies’ apps to make contactless payments on devices that use the iOS system for free without the need to use Apple Pay or Apple Wallet.”
To WSJ, Apple says, “Through our ongoing discussions with the European Commission, we have offered commitments to provide third-party developers in the European Economic Area with an option that will enable their users to make NFC contactless payments from within their iOS apps, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.”
Still, the company notes that “Apple Pay will continue to be a broadly available option, and over 3,000 issuing banks across all EEA countries will still be able to offer the unparalleled privacy and security of Apple Pay, as well as its great user experience.”
At this moment, it’s unclear when the company needs to implement changes to third-party payment options. This news comes a few days after Apple announced it would support third-party payment systems in the US, even though it’s a bit different than what Europe is after.
For Europe, Apple will need to permit third-party Wallets into the system, while in the US, developers can promote subscriptions and purchases outside the App Store, even though they will still need to pay Apple a fee.
In addition to this change, Apple will soon need to comply with the Digital Markets Act and open up third-party app stores, so users can sideload apps to their iPhones.
That said, these changes will only affect European users, as US iPhone users will still rely on the App Store, as well as international users.
BGR will keep covering the latest news on Apple’s antitrust cases, including allowing third-party mobile payments.
