Apple Pay was launched last year that lets iPhone users transfer money, which is indeed an evident factor that not many users make use of this privilege. (Photo : Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)
Apple expands its tap-to-pay service in Canada, following an exclusive partnership with American Express.
Starting Nov. 18, consumers in Canada can use their Apple devices such as the iPhones, iPads and the Apple Watch when paying for goods and services. The region becomes the third market where Apple Pay is available, with the United States seeing the service launched in September 2014 while the launch in the United Kingdom followed 10 months later.
Initially, the service will be exclusively available to American Express account holders. In order to add cards in Apple Pay, consumers in Canada should be able to open the Wallet app and then click on the option called Add Debit/Credit Card.
Canada users are also advised to change their region to U.S. in their device's Settings in order to view the Add Credit/Debit Card option.
It should also be noted that a number of huge retailers in Canada already support Apple Pay at launch. According to 9to5mac, these retailers include Walmart, McDonald's and Apple Stores. In order to know whether the store accepts payment through Apple Pay, customers are advised to look for the payment service's popular logo in the store premises.
Jennifer Bailey, Apple's VP for Apple Pay, explains that the company's initial partnership with American Express in Canada is simply because the company assumes both the roles of a card issuer and a payment-network operator. In other words, coordination becomes absolutely easier.
In the case of using Visa and MasterCard, these are issued by individual banks, with each employing its own way to verify the identity of an Apple Pay customer.
Apple Pay is also scheduled to launch in Australia before the year ends, The Verge reported. Countries such as Spain, Hong Kong and Singapore are also included for the launch which is scheduled to begin in 2016.
There is no information yet on whether Apple will expand the service to other Canadian banks. The company said that it is bringing its partnership with American Express to the service's upcoming launch in Australia, Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong.
