As we expected, Apple Pay is now available in Canada, but only for American Express customers. Those users can now use Apple Pay to make mobile payments at a number of retailers that accept NFC-based payments at checkout.
While it would have been ideal for Apple Pay to have been supported by all of the major credit card issuers, American Express may have been the most flexible among the credit-card companies, due to the fact it has suffered from sliding sales and profits in recent quarters due to the ending of a relationship with Costco Wholesale Co. that affected 10% of its outstanding cards.
The American Express partnership doesn’t stop at Canada for Apple Pay, as it is also teaming up with the card provider to bring Apple Pay to Australia by the end of 2015, and to bring the service to Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong next year.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Apple Pay has added Tesco Bank and TSB to their support rolls. Tesco banking customers can use any Tesco MasterCard. However, as 9to5Mac notes – ironically, many of Tesco’s own retail stores don’t yet accept NFC payments – so you might not be able to use your Tesco MasterCard to purchase anything via Apple Pay from Tesco itself. The publication also notes that TSB’s Apple Pay launch includes some 5% cashback promotions, for more information, visit their website.
Apple Pay was initially launched in the United States back in September 2014 and then expanded to the United Kingdom earlier this year.
