Switzerland's competition authority has launched a preliminary investigation into whether Apple's terms for granting third-party access to NFC technology on iPhones violate its antitrust laws.The Secretariat of the Swiss Competition Commission opened the probe on December 10 to examine whether rival mobile payment apps can compete fairly with Apple Pay for contactless payments in stores.Android devices freely allow third-parties to use NFC technology, but Apple only began allowing Swiss app developers to access its NFC interface in late 2024.
The regulator is looking into whether the conditions differ from those Apple separately agreed to in the EU last year.After pressure from the European Commission, Apple agreed in July 2024 to open NFC access across the European Union, of which Switzerland is not a member.Switzerland's competition watchdog has been engaged in discussions with Apple since that time.
The COMCO investigation is now gathering information from market participants to decide if Apple's Swiss-specific terms do in fact comply with local competition law.
