By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Apple’s (NASDAQ:) offer to open up its tap-and-go mobile payment system to rivals will be approved by EU antitrust regulators next month after it adjusted some terms, people with the matter said.
Apple’s bid to settle the four-year investigation would help the company avoid a finding of misconduct and avoid a potentially large fine that could amount to as much as 10% of global annual revenue.
Apple’s tap-and-go technology, called Near Field Communication or NFC, enables contactless payments with mobile wallets.
The European Commission accused Apple two years ago of thwarting competition for its Apple Pay mobile wallet by blocking rival mobile wallet app developers from accessing the tap-and-go technology.
The US tech giant offered in January to give rivals free access to its NFC on its iPhones, iPads and other Apple mobile devices without having to use Apple Pay or Apple Wallet, with access based on fair and non-discriminatory criteria .
It also offered to provide additional functionalities including defaulting of favorite payment apps, access to authentication features such as FaceID and an override mechanism, and also to set up a dispute resolution mechanism.
Apple was asked to adjust a number of terms based on feedback from competitors and customers. The NFC proposal would have a term of ten years.
The Commission aims to accept the offer by the summer, with May the most likely month, although the timing could change as it waits for Apple to work out the final technical details, people familiar with the matter said.
The company was fined 1.84 billion euros ($2 billion) last month, the EU’s first antitrust penalty, for thwarting competition from Spotify (NYSE:) and other music streaming rivals through restrictions on its App Store.
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