Apple pay tech opened up to rivals in bid to settle European Union probe

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Apple is seeking to stave off European Union antitrust scrutiny over its tap-to-pay technology, with a 10-year offer to allow third-party mobile wallets to access its closely guarded payments chip on iPhones.

The European Commission announced Friday that it’s seeking feedback from Apple’s payment rivals. If competitors conclude that the deal fixes the EU’s concerns, then the concessions become legally binding.

Should the US tech giant fail to honour the offer, it could still be hit with a fine of up to 10 per cent of it’s worldwide revenue.

The moves comes after the EU’s antitrust arm warned that Apple prevented rivals from competing on a level-footing by restricting their access to its payments technology.

Apple’s digital wallet solution allows consumers to store virtual debit and credit cards on iPhones, in addition to ticket bookings. Its tap-to-pay tech, the NFC chip, allows payments to be processed via a card reader at a cash register.

Apple maintains strong restrictions on access to the NFC antenna, setting high standards for rival payment providers, which those competitors claim violates the EU’s competition rules. Following the EU’s statement of objections in May 2022, Apple said that it ensures “equal access to NFC while setting industry-leading standards for privacy.

Amazon’s $1.4 bn iRobot deal to be blocked by EU

Amazon’s proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot Corp. is expected to be blocked by the European Union’s antitrust regulator over concerns that the deal will harm other robot vacuum makers.

The e-commerce giant was told the deal was likely to be rejected at a meeting Thursday with officials from the European Commission, according to people familiar with the matter.

A final decision still needs formal approval from the EU’s political leadership and is due by February 14.

Amazon declined to comment.

bloomberg Shares in Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot dropped 36% in pre-market trading. The deal spread widened to $28 on Thursday.

YouTube, Spotify join Netflix, not to launch Apple Vision Pro apps

YouTube and Spotify , the world’s most popular video and music services, are joining Netflix in steering clear of Apple’s upcoming mixed-reality headset.

YouTube said in a statement Thursday that it isn’t planning to launch a new app for the Apple Vision Pro, nor will it allow its longstanding iPad application to work on the device — at least, for now. YouTube, like Netflix, is recommending that customers use a web browser if they want to see its content: “YouTube users will be able to use YouTube in Safari on the Vision Pro at launch.”

Spotify also isn’t currently planning a new app for visionOS — the Vision Pro’s operating system — and doesn’t expect to enable its iPad app to run on the device when it launches, according to a person familiar with matter. But the music service will still likely work from a web browser.

First Published: Jan 19 2024 | 11:49 PM IST

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