Apple Pay goes live in Canada, adds two UK banks, coming to Australia on Thursday
Roger FingasImage Credit: Peter J. Thompson/National Post
On Tuesday Apple officially launched Apple Pay in Canada, simultaneously announcing two more supporting banks in the U.K., and a Thursday debut for the service in Australia.
Canadian payments are currently limited to American Express cards, and further exclude co-branded AmEx cards offered by Scotiabank and others. Transactions can be made at any retailer supporting AmEx's wireless payment system however, which includes major chains such as Tim Hortons, Indigo, Staples, Petro Canada, and McDonald's.
Online payments can be made in apps like Uber, Starbucks, Domino's, Groupon, and Priceline.
In the U.K. — which got Apple Pay in July — shoppers can now add cards from TSB or Tesco Bank.
Apple revealed the Australian launch date to the Financial Post, but didn't elaborate on any details, such as supporting merchants. As with Canada, though, American Express will be initial local card issuer.
The service will ultimately need to expand beyond AmEx in Canada and Australia, as most people in those countries use cards from other issuers, like Visa or MasterCard.
Apple is planning to bring Apple Pay to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Spain sometime in 2016. While the company has mostly succeeded in getting financial institutions on board with the service, merchant support has been comparatively lackluster. Regions like Canada and Europe are typically better equipped for wireless payments than the U.S. though, which could help.
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