Since the DMA took effect in Europe, Apple has been forced to loosen its grip by allowing third-party access to its platforms, devices, and operating systems.
One key example is the iPhone’s NFC chip, which was once locked to Apple Pay but is now required to support third-party payment providers. It took longer than one would have guessed, but now PayPal is taking advantage of this wider access.
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Earlier this month, PayPal announced that German iPhone users would soon start earning cashback by making contactless payments using the PayPal app in select stores. As the company explained:
In the coming weeks, PayPal’s first-ever contactless mobile wallet will launch nationwide, available to PayPal consumers in Germany before anywhere else in the world. The new contactless feature will be accessed through the latest version of the popular PayPal App (both iOS and Android). Consumers will be able to choose PayPal to pay safely and easily with a simple tap of their phone at any location that accepts Mastercard contactless payments. And, for the first time, the PayPal App will bring together a consolidated view of both online and offline purchases for the consumer.
Now, the system appears to be going live.
As German site iPhone Ticker reported (via The Verge), PayPal’s direct contactless system has been intermittently appearing for users, in what looks like a soft rollout or limited trial ahead of an official launch.
The system works on Mastercard-enabled payment terminals, allowing users to simply tap their iPhone and pay using the PayPal app. No Apple Pay required.
Back in 2022, PayPal was one of the companies that backed the EU’s antitrust complaints against Apple’s control over the iPhone’s NFC chip, and now it appears to be one of the first to benefit from the outcome.
At the time, as reported by Bloomberg, the company “was one of multiple companies making informal complaints about the situation to the commission,” and “helped spur a formal antitrust complaint,” that arguably (at least partially) led to the outcome of the DMA.
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