This announcement came after Apple’s acceptance of the European Commission’s ruling on competition concerns. The European Commission made commitments offered by Apple legally binding under EU antitrust rules. The commitments address the Commission’s concerns regarding Apple’s refusal to grant rivals access to a standard for its NFC technology.
Curve intended to launch on iOS since May 2024, aiming to allow iPhone users to make contactless payments by double-clicking the side button. Through this move, Curve intends to support banks in saving on the costs of transaction fees which they now pay to Apple.
With the rapid increase of the use of mobile contactless payments in Europe, 2024 saw that payment adoption exceeded 60% for online transactions and 25% for payments in-store. This affects companies like Apple, whose users only have the option to use Apple Pay, with no way for banks or other wallet providers to compete on expertise, insight, or economics.
Curve Pay, as a staged wallet with built-in smart features, aims to end the monopoly and give iOS users more choice and additional capabilities, including real-time spending insights, reward stacking, and the ability to switch payment sources post-transaction.
Curve Pay’s mission is to support users in the European Economic Area to see and use their money differently, opening a way to more intelligent spending. The digital wallet also recently launched on Android, offering universal access to all its users, regardless of device.
Much like pass-through wallets, which transmit existing card credentials, like Apple Pay, Curve’s architecture actively sits in the payment flow. This allows the e-wallet to offer more than tap-to-pay, including the ability to change the cards users utilise, split payments, earn cashback, track spending in real time, and pay from accounts like PayPal, all through a single app.
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