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

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.