EU accuses Apple of monopolistic behavior in NFC chips –

According to reports from Europe. the The EU antitrust regulator will sue Apple for anti-competitive behavior related to its NFC chip technology. This could force Apple to open its mobile payment system to competitors. In June of last year, the European Commission opened an investigation into Apple Pay. It is the proprietary solution for mobile payment on iPhone and iPad. Apple is preventing its competitors from using NFC payments on the iPhone and Apple Watch. This is the potential competition problem that the company is currently facing. In addition, the company pre-installs its proprietary payment platform in its devices.
Jason Gardner, CEO of California-based payments platform Marqeta, said: “Apple is indeed using the Apple Pay team to create a financial services giant.” The source said that the European competition law enforcement agency is currently drafting a so-called statement of objection, explaining its concerns, which should be sent to Apple next year. This is one of the many cases the company will have to deal with next year.
Apple to pay buyers of refurbished gadgets $ 95 million
A recent court document shows that Apple reached a $ 95 million settlement on Friday to settle a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Apple is providing customers with refurbished and replacement equipment that violates the law. Apple’s US Repair Terms and Conditions state that when providing service to customers’ products, ânew or refurbished components or products that are equivalent to new products in performance and reliability may be used â.
However, the plaintiff claims in the lawsuit that the refurbished or “reconditioned” equipment “is not equivalent to new equipment in terms of performance and reliability”, and therefore demanded that Apple compensate for the economic losses.
Affected users include all residents of the United States who have purchased the AppleCare or AppleCare + protection plan. However, the date of purchase must be on or after July 20, 2012. It does not matter whether the purchase was direct or through the iPhone Upgrade Program. Court documents show that if approved, the settlement fund will be split evenly among the class members. However, this will be based on the number of refurbished replacement equipment they receive.
After legal fees and other expenses, the group will still receive a substantial sum. This sum will be between 63.4 and 68.1 million dollars. Court documents also show that Apple “resolutely denies” that the refurbished equipment is of poor quality. However, given the time and cost required to continue the trial, he chose to reach a settlement with the plaintiff. The claimant will seek court approval as soon as possible starting October 20.