The App Store has been one of the main focuses when it comes to Apple and potential antitrust violations. However, Apple Pay could also be a rising vulnerability for Apple as it defends itself against accusations of monopolistic behavior, the Financial Times notes.
According to the report, citing Loup Ventures analysts, Apple Pay is now used by 507 million people. That’s around half of the people in thee world who own an iPhone. By 2025, Bernstein analysts think it could facilitate one in every 10 credit card transactions worldwide. Of these, Apple gets an estimated 0.15% of each transaction.
The FT writes that:
“The Cupertino company has spent much of 2020 fighting allegations of anti-competitive behaviour in its App Store. By contrast, its financial services business has attracted little attention in the US, meriting only a passing mention in a 450-page report by Congress’ antitrust subcommittee in October.
But Apple Pay is growing fast as consumers try not to touch buttons or handle cash because of the coronavirus. Jennifer Bailey, head of Apple Pay, said this month that contactless payments have gone from ‘being a convenience to a matter of public health.'”
Apple Pay is a ‘killer app’ for Apple
The report also quotes Jason Gardner, CEO of the payments platform Marqeta. Gardner says that Apple Wallet is “more of a killer app than much of the world really understands” at present. “It’s absolutely going to become a battleground for regulators in the future,” Gardner said.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Apple Pay being a subject for antitrust scrutiny. The EU currently has three investigations into Apple. Two of these are focused on the App Store, while the other is focused on Apple Pay. The concern is not that Apple has a payments platform, but rather that it has one that is tied into the broader Apple ecosystem. That can make Apple Pay appear to be a default. This is similar to how Internet Explorer was considered on Windows prior to the Microsoft antitrust case 20 years ago.
In Apple’s guidance to developers it notes that they should “make Apple Pay the default payment option when possible. If Apple Pay is enabled, assume the person wants to use it. Consider presenting the Apple Pay button as the first or only payment option, displaying it larger than other options, or using a line to visually separate it from other choices.”
One article being written about Apple Pay certainly isn’t going to guarantee that it will undergo more antitrust scrutiny in 2021. But with regulation of big tech on the table in a way that it hasn’t been for years, this probably isn’t something Apple wants talking about. If nothing else, it adds to the perception that Apple represents a monopoly; an image that some rivals like Facebook seems eager to help support.
Source: Financial Times
