Apple Pay tech likely to be open to rivals in rules mulled by EU

While the report did not mention Apple by name, at present iPhone and Apple Watch users can only make NFC payments using Apple Pay. Banks and other competitors have complained they want the same functionality for their own iPhone apps and that Apple won’t give them access to the chip. — Apple

The European Union is considering new rules that would likely require Apple Inc to give competitors access to payments technology inside its iPhones.

The new laws would prevent mobile device manufacturers from limiting access to near-field communication technology embedded in smartphones and other devices such as smartwatches, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.