Vestager also says the EU is watching Apple vs Epic very closely.
What you need to know
- Apple's antitrust woes are continuing to mount up.
- EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager says the EU is pressing on with a probe into Apple Pay.
- Apple is already under investigation over in-app purchases and has been charged with breaching EU competition law with regard to music streaming.
Apple's antitrust woes are continuing to pile up as the EU's competition commissioner says the bloc will press on with a probe into Apple Pay.
From Bloomberg:
While Apple Inc.'s attentions turned to a California court clash with Epic Games Inc., Europe's top antitrust enforcer issued a reminder that the tech giant's legal battles across the Atlantic are also heating up. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager warned that a probe into the company's Apple Pay product is moving ahead on top of an investigation -- escalated last month -- into how the iPhone maker requires software developers to use its in-app purchasing system.
In an interview, Vestager said that the Apple Pay investigation was "quite advanced" and "something that we're pushing forward".
The EU announced a formal antitrust investigation into both Apple Pay and the App Store in June of 2020, from that report:
The EU has announced a formal investigation into possible antitrust practices carried out by Apple, with regards to both Apple Pay and the App Store.
In a press release the European Commission stated:
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Apple's conduct in connection with Apple Pay violates EU competition rules. The investigation concerns Apple's terms, conditions and other measures for integrating Apple Pay in merchant apps and websites on iPhones and iPads, Apple's limitation of access to the Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality ("tap and go") on iPhones for payments in stores, and alleged refusals of access to Apple Pay.
Vestager says that the EU is also paying close attention to Apple's ongoing trial against Epic Games, where this week Apple began its defense of the iOS ecosystem and the App Store. In April the EU announced its preliminary findings in its investigation of a complaint made by Spotify, stating that Apple was in breach of EU competition law by charging commission to rivals on the App Store whilst running its own music streaming service in Apple Music.