European Commission Suspects Apple of Abusing Dominant Position in Mobile Wallet Market

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Commission informed Apple of its preliminary view that the company may have abused its dominant position in mobile wallet markets.

The suspicions are based on the investigation into Apple's policies on Apple Pay that the European Commission has been conducting since June 2020.

"The European Commission has informed Apple of its preliminary view that it abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices," a press release read.

According to the European Commission, Apple has undermined fair market competition by restricting third-party access to the necessary hardware and software technologies that are needed for the development of rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices.

"We preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution Apple Pay. If confirmed, such a conduct would be illegal under our competition rules," Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy, was quoted as saying in the press release.

Such policies have a negative impact on competitors' businesses and result in less innovation and less choice for consumers, the European Commission said.

If this motive is proven, Apple will be found guilty of violating the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union that prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.