This app officially ends Apple Pay's monopoly on the iPhone

© Vipps

In the EU, Apple is no longer allowed to reserve the iPhone’s NFC payment features for its own Apple Pay service. And this week, an app has officially ended that monopoly. In Norway, mobile payments company Vipps has launched the world’s first app to compete with Apple Pay on the iPhone.

Like the Cupertino company’s payment app, it will initially allow NFC payments in stores that accept BankAxept cards, a national payment system that covers 90% of the country’s payment terminals. But Vipps is already planning to support Visa and Mastercard terminals, which will allow its users to make payments in other countries.

“We have fought for a long time to compete on equal terms with Apple. That is why it is almost surreal to finally launch our own solution. It will now be a rare and exciting battle between the strongest brand in the world and Vipps,” said Rune Garborg, head of Vipps MobilePay.

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The result of an agreement between Apple and the European Commission

If payment applications like Vipps can now compete directly with Apple Pay on the iPhone, it is thanks to a series of commitments that the Cupertino company proposed to the European Commission and that the latter accepted in July. As a reminder, Brussels had investigated the situation of NFC payments on iPhone and had concluded, as a preliminary matter, “that Apple had abused its dominant position by refusing to provide NFC input on iOS to competing mobile wallet developers while reserving this access exclusively for Apple Pay.”

To end this procedure, Apple has notably committed to allowing wallet providers to use NFC technology on the iPhone, free of charge, and without going through its Apple Pay or Apple Wallet services. The firm has also committed to applying “fair, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory” eligibility criteria to payment application developers. These commitments apply for a period of 10 years, and in all countries of the European Economic Area. And if Apple fails to meet its commitments, the European Commission can fine it up to 10% of its total annual turnover.

• Norwegian app Vipps is the first iOS app to compete with Apple Pay on the iPhone
• This has become possible thanks to commitments made by Apple to the European Commission
• The firm has committed to allowing developers to compete with Apple Pay by providing free access to the iPhone's NFC module for mobile payments
• Apple risks a heavy fine if it does not respect these commitments

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