EU Commission seeks feedback on Apple offer to open up tap-and-go tech to rivals

BRUSSELS: The European Commission is seeking feedback from rivals and customers on concessions Apple offered to settle EU antitrust charges and stave off a possible hefty fine, it said on Friday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The bloc’s regulator had charged Apple with restricting access to its tap-and-go mobile payment systems, based on the independent technology called Near-Field Communication (NFC), as it made it difficult for rivals to develop alterative payment options for iOS-based devices and compete with Apple Pay and Wallet apps.

To address that, Apple committed to open up these systems to third-party developers for their own apps, which would work independently from the Apple ones.