Facing mounting pressure from regulators, Apple announced Wednesday that it It was announced It opens up NFC transactions to third-party developers. NFC, or near-field communication, is the short-range wireless technology that powers Apple Pay and Wallet. Apple’s exclusive access to the iPhone’s NFC capabilities has been under investigation by the European Commission for years for restricting competition in mobile payments, eventually prompting Apple to Open Its click-and-go technology to third parties in the region.
Now, Apple is expanding access to other markets as well. According to its announcement, Apple will initially make the new NFC and Secure Element APIs available to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the US, with additional locations to follow. The APIs will be available with the release of iOS 18.1.
Although Apple has long allowed third parties to access its contactless communication technology for things like reading NFC tags, an EU antitrust case has prompted the company to Allow competitors to access Secure Element mobile payment system from iPhone. The decision saved Apple from facing an antitrust fine. This could have been equivalent to up to 10% of its total annual revenue, or around $40 billion.
While other markets are responding to EU regulations, Apple will likely get ahead of any further complications by opening up access to NFC to developers.
With the new APIs, developers will be able to offer competitive wallet products, as well as other apps that offer contactless in-app transactions for things like in-store payments, car keys, enclosed transportation, company logos, student ID cards, house keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty cards, rewards cards and event tickets, with support for government ID cards in the future. Expanding access is likely to spark innovation as developers update their existing apps with new capabilities while others build apps to take advantage of the new functionality.
Developers still have to accept Apple’s terms by entering into a “commercial agreement with Apple,” and the company has yet to say what that entails. The agreement will allow developers to claim the right and pay the associated fees, indicating that this is not a free service.
Once granted access, developers will be able to use new APIs to access the Secure Element, a chip on iPhone that stores sensitive information securely on the device. Users will be able to open the third-party app directly or set it as the default app in iOS settings to use it by double-clicking the side button, just like you can today with Apple Pay.
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