In a strategic gambit, Apple opens its tap-and-go payment doors to rivals, seeking an amicable resolution to EU antitrust woes and sidestepping potential billion-dollar fines.

Opening Up Payment Tech

According to reporting from AP, Apple, a tech behemoth that typically plays hard to get, unexpectedly proposed to allow third-party mobile wallet and payment service providers access to the contactless payment function on its iOS operating system. This move, presented as an answer to EU antitrust accusations, is perhaps a temporary truce in an ongoing battle for dominance when it comes to all sorts of Apple-related payments . As Brussels contemplates the offer, will Apple's offering be enough to appease the regulatory gods and dodge the looming financial guillotine?

Tech Diplomacy: Apple's Gesture Amid Antitrust Squabbles

In a regulatory poker game, Apple has tossed its tap-and-go cards onto the table, signaling a willingness to negotiate with EU antitrust enforcers. The proposition? Opening the once-exclusive access to its contactless payment function, a move that might spell peace in the tech battleground. As the EU collects feedback from interested parties, Apple has played a diplomatic card, attempting to avert the impending financial tempest. Breaches of EU competition law can result in fines of up to 10% of a company's annual global revenue, which in this case, could amount to tens of billions.

A Step Further?

Apple also said that through “ongoing discussions” with the EU, it would provide developers of payment, banking and digital wallet apps with an option for their users to “make NFC contactless payments from within their iOS apps, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.”