Apple today made a presentation to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), arguing that the request by the three big Australian banks to bargain collectively on the use of Apple Pay is ultimately damaging to consumers, because it would harm innovation in mobile payments and avoid competitive dynamics for consumer use.
The Cupertino company maintains that each of the big three banks (Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac) have resisted serious commitment to Apple regarding Apple Pay for the past two years.
Apple claims that have tried, unsuccessfully, to negotiate with all banksExcept for one of the banks that refuses to sign a confidentiality agreement that would allow Apple to send its initial terms to customers. Apple says that collective bargaining would slow further negotiations with other entities.
This means that each of the banks is not afraid of their competitors offering Apple Pay. Therefore, banks do not fear a potential loss from consumers to the entity. This hurts consumers, preventing competitive dynamics, according to Apple.
The measure would also hurt innovation in mobile payments, removing incentives for existing players in Australia to compete with Apple Pay. However, a spokesperson for the banks told AppleInsider that, together with Australian merchants and payment processors, have been working on contactless payments before Apple Pay was introduced.
Banks say that unlike Android or Samsung, Apple blocks access to NFC payments and you want users to have no choice but to use Apple Pay. They want to negotiate with Apple to offer other integrated wallets within Apple Pay. Last week, Australian retailers and payment processors lined up with banks to bargain collectively.