The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Apple aligns neatly with the EU on one key point: NFC and mobile payments

As Apple faces an antitrust lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), one might assume that references to the Cupertino company’s current anti-competitive headwinds in Europe would be sprinkled liberally throughout the DOJ’s complaint — just for a little more context and a little information. . Moral support if nothing else. But Europe is barely mentioned.

However, the only time Europe was explicitly mentioned was in relation to Apple’s grip on digital wallets, NFC and mobile payment technology within its iOS ecosystem.

For context, the European Union filed charges against Apple in May 2022, concluding that Apple “abused its dominant position” with respect to mobile wallets by blocking competing services from accessing the iPhone’s contactless NFC payment functionality. At the beginning of this year, Apple went some way toward appeasing European regulators by proposing to allow third-party mobile wallets and payment services to finally access NFC technology on iOS for free, circumventing Apple’s own payment and wallet services. With these changes now underway, at least in theory, the Justice Department wants to get in on the action.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, the Justice Department agreed with the European Union’s assertion that Apple unfairly favors its mobile payment technology, giving third-party developers no choice but to play ball. Specifically, the document says that Apple’s “total control” over tap-to-pay transactions stifles innovation and reinforces its existing monopoly.

Deposit notes:

There are no technical restrictions on providing NFC access to developers looking for third-party wallets. For example, Apple allows merchants to use the iPhone’s NFC antenna to accept tap-to-pay payments from consumers. Apple also admits that it technically is It is possible to enable an iPhone user to set another app (for example, a bank app) as the default payment app, and Apple intends to allow this functionality in Europe.

This single reference to Europe tells us something about the differences between two jurisdictions trying to keep the main platform controller in check.

Categories

The Justice Department’s complaint about digital wallets is part of a focus on five broad categories. One such app is called “super apps,” which the Justice Department says Apple has blocked because it “fundamentally destroys” Apple’s app ecosystem, since it would allow developers to offer multiple features and mini-programs in a single app.

Then there’s cross-platform smartwatch compatibility, which the Justice Department says Apple is hindering by restricting certain features from third-party smartwatch makers. Cross-platform messaging also earned a place on the list of complaints, with the Justice Department claiming that Apple is “protecting its smartphone monopoly” by making iMessage iOS-only while also undercutting the other cross-platform messaging apps available. She also mentioned the different colored “bubbles” that iMessage sends depending on whether the recipient is on iOS or Android.

It is worth noting here that while Europe considered forcing Apple to make iMessage interoperable with other third-party messaging apps, it decided against doing so.

Elsewhere, the Justice Department also accuses Apple of preventing developers from offering cloud gaming apps, because that means developers can create games that don’t require powerful hardware like the iPhone, and instead use remote servers to “stream” games to a device. – While bundling multiple games into one downloadable app.

Apple actually announced Back in January It will allow game streaming services like Xbox Cloud on iPhones, but the Justice Department says Apple is still making it too burdensome for developers looking to monetize their games, for example by requiring them to use Apple’s own payment system and requiring major overhauls. Specifically in design. For iPhone. The text of the complaint is as follows:

Apple’s rules and restrictions effectively force developers to create a separate iOS-specific version of their app instead of creating a single cloud-based version compatible with multiple operating systems, including iOS. As a result, developers spend a lot of time and resources re-engineering applications to bring cross-platform applications such as multiplayer games to the iPhone.

One notable omission from the DOJ’s list of complaints is anti-directive practices, for which Apple was recently fined €1.84 billion in Europe – essentially, Apple will prevent iOS app developers from informing their users of cheaper ways to subscribe to their service (e.g. through a website). . Spotify has long lobbied against the practice, and is currently testing the flexibility of Europe’s new Digital Market Act (DMA) which includes anti-directive provisions.

So, while there is clearly some overlap in the issues that the DOJ and Europe are trying to address around Apple’s alleged monopoly and anticompetitive practices, there are also notable differences with respect to specific areas of focus. However, NFC, digital wallets and mobile payments seem to be the most compatible.