After making some changes to the rules, Apple‘s offer to allow competitors to use its tap-and-go mobile payment system is expected to be accepted by EU antitrust authorities as early as next month, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Apple hopes that by settling the four-year inquiry, it would avoid being found to have committed any violation and avoid paying a potentially large fine that may equal up to 10% of its yearly global turnover.
Apple’s tap-and-go technology called near-field communication, or NFC, allows for contactless payments with mobile wallets.
The European Commission two years ago accused Apple of thwarting competition for its Apple Pay mobile wallet by preventing rival mobile wallets app developers from accessing its tap-and-go technology.
The U.S. tech giant in January offered to let rivals access its NFC on its iPhones, iPads and other Apple mobile devices free of charge 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 preferred payment apps, access to authentication features such as FaceID and a suppression mechanism, and also to set up a dispute settlement mechanism.
Apple was asked to tweak some of the terms following feedback from rivals and customers. The NFC proposal would be for 10 years.
The Commission aims to accept the offer by the summer, with May as the likeliest month although the timing could still change as it waits for Apple to work out the final technical details, the people familiar with the matter said.
The company was hit with a 1.84 billion-euro ($2 billion) fine, its first EU antitrust penalty, last month for thwarting competition from Spotify and other music streaming rivals via restrictions on its App Store.
