The Secretariat of the Swiss Competition Commission opened a preliminary investigation into whether Apple’s (AAPL) terms and conditions prevent other providers of mobile payment apps from competing effectively with Apple Pay for contactless payments with iOS devices in shops.
Until 2024, Apple (AAPL) denied third parties access to the near-field communications (“NFC”) interface on iOS devices, the operating system that runs on Apple devices. But on July 11, 2024, the European Commission accepted commitments offered by the tech giant to grant third parties free access to the NFC interface on iOS devices and declared them legally binding under EU antitrust law.
As a result of talks between the Secretariat and Apple (AAPL) since early 2024, Apple has granted Swiss third-party app providers access to the NFC and SE platform on iOS devices since late 2024.
“The Secretariat is now conducting a preliminary investigation to determine whether the terms and conditions for granting access – which differ from those applicable in the EEA – comply with Swiss antitrust law. To this end, the Secretariat continues to gather information and insights from the markets,” the regulator said.