Apple’s decision to provide competing mobile wallets with access to iPhone NFC functionality creates new opportunities for the European payments market:
- greater competition, innovation and scale for mobile wallets;
- the ability for issuers to offer alternatives to Apple Pay; and
- new opportunities for instant payments at the point of sale.
Important implementation questions remain, including the scope of access for in-app and online payments, access to the secure element, and the challenge of encouraging consumers to adopt competing wallets.
The development may help new pan-European wallets emerge and affect the strategies of banks, payment firms, card schemes and other wallet providers.
Read the European Commission document.