The newly developed API will be available in a few regions only such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Apple in the time of the open-door policy
One of the features of the multinational Apple’s policy is that while launching the company’s products in the European Union, it is also expanding the access to such options as Near Field Communication (NFC) and contactless payment in the United States and other states.
The greater accomplishment of iOS 18. 1
Last Wednesday, in the press release, the company announced that third-party developers can choose to download their own contactless transaction systems through an API in the new iOS version of 18. 1 release.
When Apple is under the law to abide by EU laws and especially the DMA, the new features come as result of a four-year investigation by the European Commission. The probe established that Apple was squarely to blame for keeping the payment technology on the iPhone closed off to other players in the mobile wallet space.
New opportunities as a result of NFC
So long as there is iOS 18. 1 comes, developers will be able to perform contactless payments and other transactions through iPhone Secure Element, used also in Apple Pay.
They include digital car access, transit passes, compatible residential and hotel access, student identity cards, tickets, and loyalty and/or rewards cards. Apple has not announced any such thing but says that government IDs will be “supported in the future.”
What about developer fees?
To fully unlock these features, a ‘commercial relationship with Apple’ has to be established, ‘NFC’ and ‘Secure Enclave rights’ have to be requested and the respective ‘fees’ have to be paid. Besides, the Apple Pay and the Apple Wallet features will still be functional even when other systems are embedded into the company’s software.
