iPhones have an NFC chip, which allows them, among other functions, to pay with the Apple Pay platform. This service is exclusive to iPhones, and also has a hegemonic position within the apple ecosystem, since it is the main option that is available. Neither Google Pay nor Samsung Pay are on the iPhone. However, this is about to change, due to new regulations that have been imposed from Europe. do you want to know what is it about? We tell you about it in this article!
The new Digital Markets Law has disrupted Apple's entire philosophy. In order to improve competition, one of the requirements that the European Commission has put on the table is the permissibility of other companies being able to put their services within the products. Third-party application stores, emulators or internet browsers have been among the most popular changes. However, now the NFC chip has also been the subject of legislation. What can happen from now on? We see it below!
Apple Pay competitors may be on the iPhone
The Apple Pay payment platform is the one that has exclusive access to the NFC of iPhones, when making payments with credit or debit cards. That does not mean that, currently, Apple phones do not have other payment methods through banking applications, money transfers or services such as Bizum or PayPal. However, these applications do not use NFC in the same way that Apple Pay does. In fact, they rely more on the internet connection to be able to operate correctly.
In the case of Apple's service, we have a closed ecosystem in which, for privacy reasons (they argue), NFC is very limited. But that's about to change, because for the first time, iPhones are going to have other services, in addition to Apple Pay. “The commission's decision is expected to be“It will be public in the coming weeks.”, they explain from the Reuters agency. Right now, in the field of NFC payment systems, the option of Californians is the only one available, without it being possible for other methods that make use of this technology to take advantage of the capabilities that the iPhone has at the level of hardware.
Initially, these measures that would affect the platform would only have to be applied within European territory. In markets that are outside these legislations, such as the United States, these changes would not apply. In fact, today, iPhones are no longer the same around the world, since in Europe, we have access to functions such as:
- Choice of third-party browsers
- Web applications
- Sideloading
- Third Party Software Stores
- Choosing the default search engine
- Choosing the default browser
Although these are changes that will allow Apple Pay to have competitors, Californians must continue to offer security guarantees to users, through quality standards policies in their app store.
