The European Union will accuse Apple of breaking EU law by unfairly limiting the access third-party payment systems’ access to its iPhone mobile payment system, says a Financial Times report.
The report, which cites the ever-popular “sources familiar with the matter,” says Apple will be accused of “unfairly blocking groups such as PayPal and leading banks from accessing its mobile wallet system” by the European Union and could face heavy penalties if the accusation moves forward.
The EU is taking issue with Apple’s limiting third-party app developers to access Apple’s NFC technology on the iPhone. This means payments services such as PayPal, banks, and other financial institutions, are unable to provide a similar experience to that of Apple Pay for iPhone users. For its part, Apple claims that its restrictions on NFC are put in place to safeguard users’ privacy and security.
Apple faces increasing legal pressure from various parties around the globe to open its iPhone to outside app stores, sideloading, and possibly make iMessage a cross-platform messaging service.