Apple will have to face an antitrust lawsuit alleging iOS Apple Pay dominance - The Verge

Access to Apple’s NFC hardware is a major sticking point.

A federal judge partially denied Apple's request to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit concerning Apple Pay's alleged antitrust behavior, initiated by three credit unions.
The credit unions claim Apple violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by charging excessive processing fees and excluding other digital wallets from accessing its NFC-scanning hardware.
The judge acknowledged that iOS tap-to-pay, via Apple Pay, constitutes a distinct market due to its convenience compared to other payment methods like QR code apps.
Lawyers argued that Apple Pay is "unlawfully tied" to Apple's devices, though the judge found this claim unconvincing as Apple Pay is free and not forced upon users.
The judge agreed with the accusation of "arbitrary and inflated fees" for payment processing, and identified a lack of competition in the iOS digital payments market as detrimental to consumers.
This case follows a preliminary 2022 EU ruling deeming Apple Pay anticompetitive due to Apple's exclusive use of the iPhone's NFC reader, with a court meeting scheduled for December 1 to further address the lawsuit.

3 comments

Third party apps can't use NFC on iPhone!?

That explains a lot, actually. I've seen plenty of QR based systems that I thought should really be NFC. Now I know that this is basically because they didn't want to pay the Apple tax.
- Apple and it's spiked garden.
- I hope they have to remove that apple tax on there.
This is the best summary I could come up with:

California Northern District Judge Jeffrey White partially denied (PDF) Apple’s request to dismiss a proposed federal class action lawsuit over Apple Pay, reports Reuters.

Three credit unions argued Apple violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by charging too much in processing fees and being too exclusionary by not letting other digital wallets access its NFC-scanning hardware.

The judge agreed with the credit unions’ argument that because QR code payment apps (like Venmo) lack Apple Pay’s convenience and functionality, and it's too expensive to switch to Android, iOS tap-to-pay is a market unto itself.

And Apple is the only player in a certain market that would have other competition if not for that little NFC reader detail that makes it a monopoly say the lawyers.

No NFC access for third-party apps sounds anticompetitive to Judge White.

Apple and the credit unions will meet again in court on December 1st at 11AM PT.

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