Apple hit with class-action lawsuit over ‘monopoly on mobile payments on its own devices’

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On the afternoon of July 19, some users in the United States recently launched a class action lawsuit against Apple, accusing Apple of violating US antitrust laws, mainly because the iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch can only use Apple Pay, the only mobile phone. Payment means to pay.

This time, the lawsuit was jointly filed by law firms Hagens Berman and Sperling & Slater. Alleging that Apple is preventing competing software such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay from providing mobile payment services on Apple devices by preventing competitors from using NFC on its devices “At least $1 billion.

The indictment alleges that the card issuer must pay Apple a 0.15 percent credit card fee and a 0.5 percent debit card fee for every transaction completed on Apple Pay with a U.S.-issued bank card. In contrast, Google allows multiple mobile wallets on Android smartphones and doesn’t charge U.S. card issuers.

“Comparing the functionality of Apple Pay with other mobile wallets available on Android devices (eg Google Pay, Samsung Pay) is like looking in a mirror, the functionality is the same,” Hagens Berman Law “However, with mobile wallets on Android, card issuers don’t have to pay any fees, whereas with Apple Pay they spend a total of $1 billion a year,” said Steve Berman, co-founder and managing partner of the firm. .”

If the Apple Pay service were to join other competitors on Apple devices, Apple would not be able to maintain the massive revenue it earns through Apple Pay, the indictment said.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, accuses Apple of repeatedly violating the Federal Sherman Act by “bundling” Apple Pay to its mobile devices and monopolizing the iOS mobile payments market .

The lawsuit seeks to waive fees paid to Apple by all card issuers when using Apple Pay.

Berman said this is the third time Apple has been sued for violating antitrust laws. The law firm reached a $560 million settlement with Apple and publishers over e-book pricing in 2015, and earlier this year reached a $100 million settlement with Apple on behalf of iOS app developers In the agreement, the developers said that Apple’s rule at the time was that the App Store would take a 30% cut, which was too high.

Apple Pay has faced similar scrutiny in other regions, including Australia and Europe. In May, the European Commission informed Apple of its preliminary view that Apple is abusing its dominant position in the mobile payments market for iOS devices by restricting other payment methods by limiting the NFC technology capabilities on Apple devices.

In recent years, the trend of anti-monopoly of big companies has continued, and Apple has been particularly concerned because of its closed ecological environment. From “sideloading” in the App Store, to the 30% cutoff question, and today’s Apple Pay payments. Almost every link has the risk of being sued, and Apple is working to improve these problems through workarounds.

Source: Sina Digital

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