The EU Commission issued a Statement of Objections to Apple on Monday over the US tech giant’s supposedly abusive practices in the field of mobile wallets technology. The company has been using its “dominant position” in the market to bar third-party services from accessing software and hardware on its devices facilitating contactless payments, the document states.
“We have indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple’s devices,” the EU Commission’s competition policy head, Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, said, adding that the EU had preliminary data suggesting the US company might have restricted competition to benefit Apple Pay.
“If confirmed, such a conduct would be illegal under our competition rules,” Vestager warned.