AppleInsider Staff
Apple will partner with American Express to launch Apple Pay in Australia and Canada by the end of the year and Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain over the course of 2016, CEO Tim Cook revealed during a quarterly conference call on Tuesday.
Mentioned almost in passing, the upcoming rollout is a major boost for Apple Pay's international availability, which until now has been limited to the U.S. and the UK.
According to Cook, the partnership will bring Apple Pay to Australia and Canada by the end of the year, though specifics are unknown. For example, it is unclear which card issuing banks are on board to offer support, if any. Interestingly, TD Canada Trust bank accidentally revealed upcoming Visa compatibility earlier this month, suggesting support for other credit cards are in the offing.
After substantial uptake at launch, Apple Pay adoption rates have slowed over the past year, studies show. Apple is trying to boost those numbers by extending availability to hundreds of banks in the U.S. It was announced on Tuesday, for example, that Kohl's will be the first store-branded credit card to join up with Apple Pay.
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18 Comments
I have been waiting for Apple Pay to come to Canada. American Express will work for me but I hope BMO joins as well. In Toronto , tap-to-pay terminals are very common which will help with adoption. I also wish Apple Pay becomes an alternative to the transit Presto Card for fare payments but I have a feeling this is not going to happen anytime soon.
American Express? What about VISA and Mastercard, the most commonly used cards here? I don't get it.
That is one way to get around stubborn banks. AMEX is not bundled with traditional merchant gateway accounts. They run their own ecommerce service, at least in the US. Not sure about AU and CA.
According to Cook, the partnership will bring Apple Pay to Australia and Canada by the end of the year, though specifics are unknown. For example, it is unclear which card issuing banks are on board to offer support, if any.
Banks don't issue AMEX. You get the cards directly from American Express. Same with the payment processing, AMEX processes their own transactions completely separate from any bank or merchant gateway.
That is one way to get around stubborn banks. AMEX is not bundled with traditional merchant gateway accounts. They run their own ecommerce service, at least in the US. Not sure about AU and CA.
To be correct, most, but not all, Amex cards are issued by Amex as the bank. BofA and Citi issue some cards.
Amex processes through a traditional gateway account. As a merchant, you send the transactions to, say Chase Paymentech, First Data or Stripe, like you do for Visa.
However the difference is that Amex acts as the acquiring bank for most but not all merchants. Amex receives the money from the issuing bank (usually itself) and deposits it into your bank account. A business that accepts Amex will receive payment from a "normal" acquirer for Visa/MC/Discover but Amex separately for their transactions.