The deadline for submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission from interested parties on the application by a group of banks to bargain collectively with third-party mobile wallet providers has passed with only six submissions filed.Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank made the application last month. While the application does not say so directly, it is clear it is intended to beef up the bank's bargaining position with Apple over its terms for the introduction of Apple Pay.The applicants sought an interim authorisation ahead of consideration of the "substantive authorisation application."The closing date that has passed was for submissions in relation to the interim authorisation application. Interested parties can still make submissions on the substantive issues up until Thursday. Still, for an issue that has generated so much interest, six submissions is not much of an outcome.The main issue in the banks' application is that Apple's iPhone is set up in such a way that the only mobile payment app that can have access to the NFC chip in the phone is Apple Pay. The effect of this is that Commonwealth Bank customers, for example, who want to use the bank's own mobile wallet on an iPhone must attach a sticker with a separate NFC antenna.The banks are getting together to try and bust what they see as Apple's technical lockout.According to the banks' application, mobile payment apps other than Apple Pay are not available on Apple devices in any of the markets where Apple Pay is available, which is now nine countries. This is the case even where participating banks had already developed their own mobile banking apps.The application argues that in the United Kingdom and the United States, where banks accepted Apple Pay on Apple's terms, the result has been a lessening of competition in mobile wallets.Submissions from payment companies Tyro and Indue, and from Heritage Bank, support the application, while submissions from Apple, the South Australian Small Business Commissioner and a Commonwealth Bank customer oppose the application.Tyro's submission said: "While Apple allows third parties to connect free of charge via WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth and other network protocols to its phone product range, it does not do so for NFC."This will stifle innovation and competition because it is the only available and highly secure connectivity option that is ubiquitously available across the entire card payment infrastructure and terminal fleet."Tyro said it was not just banks that would have a problem with Apple's policy. Transport services, loyalty program providers, security companies and others that are developing services based on a mobile wallet and NFC connectivity would face the same access barrier and cost burden.Heritage Bank said: "Heritage Bank's experience in negotiating with the third party wallet providers reflects that described by the applicants. It makes sense for the issues set out by the applicants to be negotiated collectively since the issues are relevant for all industry participants who wish to offer their customers mobile payments."The South Australian Small Business Commissioner said allowing cartel