As digital wallets like Google Wallet and Apple Wallet face increased scrutiny abroad, Canada’s Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne has asked the Competition Bureau to look into them in Canada.
In a letter Champagne sent to the bureau (via The Canadian Press/CTV News), he pointed to efforts in other countries to prevent companies from dominating the mobile wallet space. However, Champagne also acknowledged that the Competition Bureau is an independent body and that he wanted to draw the commissioner’s attention to digital wallets.
“I am confident that you will take appropriate action — as you deem necessary to maintain a competitive economy — should there be evidence of anti-competitive conduct by major industry players,” Champagne wrote.
The letter comes after Apple agreed to open the iPhone’s tap-to-pay capabilities to competitors in the EU, ending an anti-trust case there. Meanwhile, regulators in the U.K. plan to look into digital wallets and whether there are any competition or consumer concerns.
Mobile wallets allow users to store digital cards, such as payment cards (credit or debit), loyalty cards, and even other items like airline tickets, for easy access from their smartphones. Most recently in Canada, we’ve seen transit cards, like Metrolinx’s Presto card used in Ontario, land on mobile wallets so people can pay transit fares by tapping their phones. These wallets typically use near-field communication (NFC) chips to wirelessly communicate with payment terminals, enabling the tap-to-pay feature.
Competition concerns currently focus on Apple, which has historically limited access to the NFC chips on iPhones to just its own Apple Wallet platform. The move prevented third-party options from gaining a foothold, but that may soon change in the EU as Apple opens NFC access to third-party wallets. However, those changes likely won’t spread beyond the EU without pressure from other regulators.
On the Android side, there are more options available for digital wallets, but Google Wallet remains the dominant option thanks in part to its default status. Regulators could shake things up by forcing Android to offer users a choice of default wallet apps, similar to what the EU has done with browser apps.
Of course, it remains to be seen what, if anything, the Competition Bureau decides to do.
Header image credit: Shutterstock
Source: The Canadian Press (CTV News)
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
