iPhone NFC Issue: PayPal allegedly involved in EU proceedings

The European Commission’s ongoing investigations against Apple are based, among other things, on a complaint from the payment service provider PayPal. This one finally wants to get free access to the NFC interfaces of the iPhones. According to the official documents about the competition procedure, it was initiated by the European Commission itself because its competition watchdogs had noticed problems on Apple’s platform.

This occurs occasionally, although most investigations are based on formal complaints from competitors who feel they have been harmed by a dominant supplier. Like the US news agency Bloomberg but now, with reference to informed circles, there are informal complaints from PayPal and other companies. It is unclear who it is. However, Google and Samsung, which offer their own payment services on Android, could be included.

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Apple uses the NFC interface in iPhones almost exclusively for its own Apple Pay. Third parties do not have access to all functions here. According to reports, PayPal would mainly like to offer ‘Tap to Pay’ for its own service. Users can initiate payment transfers by simply touching their iPhones. The service is especially interesting for smaller dealers.

You do not have to invest in an expensive payment terminal to allow customers to pay contactless with their credit cards. For example, anyone who regularly goes to a flea market or runs other small businesses that don’t require a huge commerce management system basically only needs an iPhone. However, since Apple Pay is limited to users of the iOS platform or credit card holders, PayPal would be a very useful addition here, as the market leader among payment systems is basically at home on every platform.