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Faced with years of pressure from regulators in the European Union and other places, Apple finally gave in.

On Wednesday, August 14, Eastern Time, Apple announced that starting with the new operating system iOS 18.1,Developers will be able to use the secure element (SE) in the iPhone to provide NFC contactless data exchange capabilities in iPhone applications developed by developers themselves, without going through Apple's payment and wallet services Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

To use these new features within the app, users can open the app directly, or set the app as default support in iOS settings, and then double-click the iPhone side button to initiate a transaction.

Apple said that through the new NFC and SE APIs, developers will be able to provide contactless data exchange within the App, which can be used for closed-loop public transportation, corporate badges, student ID cards, home keys, hotel keys, merchant points and rewards cards, and even event tickets, etc., and will also support identity documents in the future. These APIs will first be provided to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States through the upcoming iOS 18.1 developer resources, and will be launched in more regions in the future.

At the same time, Apple pointed out that if developers want to include the new contactless data exchange function in iPhone App, they need to sign a business agreement with Apple, apply for and obtain NFC and SE authorization, and pay relevant fees. This will ensure that developers meet specific industry and regulatory requirements and comply with Apple's security and privacy standards.

The above Apple announcement means thatApple will begin allowing third parties to use the iPhone's payment chip to process transactions, allowing banks and other service providers to compete with the Apple Pay platform.It is reported thatUntil now, only Apple Pay and Apple Wallet can use many of the features of the iPhone's NFC chip, and this "exclusive" advantage will change with the launch of iOS 18.1.

It is worth mentioning that this year Apple made a series of concessions under EU antitrust pressure.

In January this year, Apple announced a series of historic and major reforms to its iOS, Safari and App Store products in the European Union. The reforms will allow customers to download software from outside the Apple App Store for the first time. People will also be able to use other payment systems and more easily choose new default web browsers.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the European Commission announced on July 11 that it had reached a settlement with Apple Inc., and Apple promised to open its mobile payment function based on near-field communication (NFC) technology to competitors for free. The relevant commitment will be legally binding for 10 years and apply to the entire European Economic Area.

In 2022, the European Commission accused Apple of restricting the use of NFC by third-party mobile payment application developers, giving Apple Pay an unfair advantage in competition with other similar products.

According to the European Commission, Apple previously made a preliminary commitment to open NFC access rights on Apple devices to third-party mobile payment application developers free of charge, without the need for Apple Pay or Apple Wallet, etc. After that, the European Commission conducted market testing on the measures promised by Apple, and Apple also modified its commitment based on the test and feedback results.

The European Commission approved the commitments and said Apple's final commitments would help allay the commission's concerns about market competition in relevant areas.

US media quoted an Apple statement as saying that the company will provide developers in the European Economic Area with the option to enable NFC contactless payments and transactions in a variety of usage scenarios in their relevant applications.

As of the close, Apple (AAPL) closed at $221.720, up 0.20%, with a total market value of $3.37 trillion.

Daily Economic News, Apple official website, Xinhua News Agency

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Daily Economic News