Update 2: Apple CEO Tim Cook confirms Apple Pay coming to Canada for eligible American Express cardholders.
Update: TD Canada Trust accidentally leaked Apple Pay is coming to Canada.
Apple Pay could be coming to Canada this fall, according to trusted sources familiar with the matter, corroborating the potential November timeline first reported by the Wall Street Journal this spring.
Numerous payment processor companies have already started to advertise their point-of-sale terminals will be compatible with Apple Pay. Currently contactless payments under $100 are accepted but transactions over this threshold are currently being worked on, with one payment processor set to meet with Apple in early October.
Apple Pay will be soft launched at Apple retail stores and select restaurant chains once the mobile payment goes live, potentially at the end of October, say sources.
We’ve already seen Desjardins advertise support for Apple Pay with their Monetico Mobile+ payment system, while last month payment processor Moneris (the RBC/BMO joint venture) told merchants how to prepare for Apple Pay’s inevitable arrival.
The Apple Pay timeline could change, but as of now we’re told late October or early November would be the potential launch window. We will find out more info in the next couple weeks we’re told.
Apple Pay has been rumoured to launch next in China. If Apple were to announce Apple Pay for China, it would be a major announcement that would deserve time on stage, so stay tuned to see if the company holds a fall Mac event or not.
Last year, Apple sent out invites on October 8 for their special event held at the company’s Cupertino headquarters on October 16. Here, we saw new iPads, a refresh to the Mac mini, a new 5K Retina iMac—and the launch date of Apple Pay for the US (Oct. 20).
Canadians with supported US credit cards have long been using Apple Pay at retailers with supported NFC POS terminals.
Keep your eyes peeled on the first week of October, because if something is going to happen, we should see invites sent out then to give enough time for new products to emerge for the prized holiday shopping season.
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this pleases me
It’s happening !!!
Well Apple was at re/code and no Canada launch of Apple Pay in Canada was announced. Starbucks and KFC will support Apple Pay in 2016.
I’m ready to give up with the Canadian banks being to cheap to allow Apple Pay in Canada.
I have yet to see any corroboration of this report save for the mentions this past spring. Is that all this article was, a regurgitation of last springs rumours?
PLEASE!!!!!!!
Cue the people saying they’re fine with just tapping their cards..
Haha…so true.
I’m fine with this also, but it’s good if I forget my wallet or I’m going out strictly to buy something and wouldn’t have to take my wallet with me.
for me ill always carry my main cards, but for point specific credit cards, not having to carry them will be nice (shoppers MC, marriott visa etc)
Another point is with rewards cards being bundled in.. If I can go to say Metro or Sobeys and just tap to pay and have it automatically pay + use my Air Miles card, that’s a bonus.
I’ll still have my wallet on me and still find this useful. It takes two free hands to get my wallet and then the card and then put it all away. It only takes one hand to pull out my phone. My kids are that small anymore but it would have been a great convenience back then, but even now my youngest likes to hold my hand so it’d still be helpful. I also often have a coffee in one hand, so again, needing only one hand is helpful. And very often my phone is already out while I am in line so no extra steps at all in that case.
but those with Apple Watch…even faster than pulling out your wallet then your plastic of choice…even faster than pulling out your iPhone. I hope my bank will be using Apple Pay!
There’s nothing wrong with tap pay here in Canada. We’re already light years ahead of the US in that regard…
But Apple Pay surely would be very nice and convenient. I’d be able to carry less in my wallet.
Great way to minimize wallet content and bulk.
I really hope this actually comes to light. A feature made for a phone I had over a year ago (iPhone 6) should be available to me….I think if there is a media event however, they will probably announce expected dates for the iPad pro and Apple TV… Something new? Doubt it….
Finally.
I certainly hope this rumor is true but I find some of the details offered strange. What would be the point of Apple partnering with any restaurant chains on this? All Apple Pay needs from a retailer is an NFC capable terminal. Any place that supports tap-to-pay will support this by default at least for transactions below 100$. No need to partner with anybody. What Apple really needs is support from the banks. What’s the word on that?
Probably just a marketing deal. Apple Pay (or Samsung Pay, or Google Pay or whatever else out there) will work with any NFC terminal that supports the tokenized communication necessary for it. That means that some earlier terminals may support the NFC, but the logic on the terminal doesn’t have an application for it. Most do. Some “in-house/co-branded” (eg BestBuy) terminals require specific changes.
An example of where NFC payments wound up being a completely missed opportunity is with the rollout of Compass cards in Vancouver and Presto card in Toronto. I expect that apps for these cards might be forthcoming, but the system used by Vancouver actually does support NFC payments (eg paywave/paypass)… if turned on, without the need for the compass card altogether. Vancouver’s system is identical to London’s current Oyster card system.
It may have to do with the way Apple Pay works with tokenization. It may be the case that older existing tap terminals do not support this technology.
This interests me a lot, I could see myself using Apple Pay regularly. Also I just bought the 6s today and I’m eager to play with all the things lol
Fingers crossed!
Better late then never. I bought a 6S with anticipation of this. Too bad I can only use it with American cards right now.
I can’t wait for Apple Pay to finally come to Canada. My friend from London used her Apple Watch to pay for something at IGA and it was so seamless. The cashier was in awe.
This. That’s actually one of the biggest use cases for any smartwatch. Instant commerce.
😀 😀 😀
Apple Pay in Canada is pretty much the only reason that would make me ditch my 5S for a 6S. It still works perfectly (though the battery isn’t what it used to be). And though some of the new features on the 6S are nice, there wasn’t enough to make me jump ship.
Though, I doubt there will be an October event this year. Many rumours said there wouldn’t, and the unveiling of the new iPads at the iPhone event seem to be pointing in the same direction too. I’d say the Code/Mobile conference is the safest bet for now.
my death stare at the canadian banks is finally working… apple pay, finally….
I think the Canadian banks (and more importantly the infrastructure) was better prepared to handle this than the US was at launch. The banks may have been ready but there was still some intricacies to deal with before it could be launched here. Apple likes to deal with their “home” first. It’s always been that way. Now it appears that Apple is ready to come to the table.
Absolutely, only a few days ago did the US reach a deadline for mandating the use of chip and pin tech in credit cards and terminals. Any fraud on the retailer end will not longer be covered by CC issuers if the retailer does not have chip and pin tech in the US. On the other hand it seems chip and pin tech has been in Canada for years and well established at all retailers. My understanding is that Apple pay relies on chip and pin tech and substitutes the pin for the fingerprint on the consumer end while sending a randomly generated pin for verification.
The banks didn’t want to pay the Apple tax that their American counterparts did. It’ll be interesting to hear what the result of their negotiations were. I expect they paid a lot less than the Americans.
Totally agree with you… If it’s launch in Canada this Fall… Oct 7-8 will be the soft announcement….
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pFmw-JcEx3o/hqdefault.jpg
I won’t believe it until I actually see it.
I hope it launches soon, I really want to use my apple watch to pay for things lol
Oh please. Pretty please!
I’ve been using it, here in the UK. Really smooth and easy to use.
Lucky 😉
After using Apple Pay all last Winter while in Florida, it was a real let-down to not have the convenience and security at home here. I did keep in “practice” by using my US Capital One Visa/Apple Pay every so often. Comments were hilarious. “What did you just do?” “That is so cool!”
That card has no foreign transaction fee, so I only paid a little bit more than just using a Canadian card. And I stuck to small transactions.
Let’s hope THIS rumour turns out to hold some water. I will be watching Twitter for signs of an announcement from Code/Mobile… Fingers crossed
After reading this, I asked my source at CIBC. She gave me the typical “It’s hush hush, don’t say anything”, but YES, it’s coming very soon! She seems to think they(CIBC) will be first. But I think all the major banks will announce around the same time.
If I was betting on a “first” bank, I’d go with TD. They were one of the early adopters in the US. That said, all the banks are equally as ready as the next (from an infrastructure point of view). The big thing will be eliminating the $100 upper limit that currently exists when you tap your debit/credit card.
It makes sense since they launched support in the USA.
Better, very late than never I suppose. Still, I won’t hold my breath waiting. I am long passed being excited about it.
Why would they announce a service launch in Canada, at an event in California?
In all fairness, they did announce service in the UK at an event in California..
At an Apple event by the CEO…. Who also announced new hardware launching in the UK. Not some random tech media interview which nobody in the UK wasn’t paying attention to.
They might mention expansion in passing. But they’ll certain want to launch here and use the launch to maximise publicity.
True, it was an Apple even, however it was announced by Jennifer Bailey which is the same VP that spoke about it at WWDC.
I don’t know what you mean in your last sentence.
In any case, I have low expectations that anything will be said about it this week, but there is at least a slight possibility.
no updates on this?
If this article was about Starbucks accepting apple pay, it would have been 100% correct. But its not… stupid rumours. Stop getting our hopes up please!!!
Would be nice, but it is not going to happen anytime soon. Our banks know their lame alternatives are better for Canadians.
guys, you’ve ‘stickied’ this article to the top of your page days ago but nobody seems to know anything about it … is this actually happening?
Do you have any more “news” on the matter?
Well they just pulled it off the top story for an even more outdated story, so that tells you something. It’s also worth noting this was the only site mentioning anything about it since this spring. And of course it was just repeating the exact rumour from this spring. makes it feel like they just repeated those claims closer to the predicted timeframe for some clicks.
Guys, we don’t post rumours unless we believe they have merit. We don’t just make stuff up for pageviews.
i’m heartened to hear that it wasn’t just a regurgitation of months old rumours, but its just been very quiet save for this singular report. i’m assuming there is no hope for an update from the source if talks have derailed or something?
Check out our latest story about TD Canada Trust listing Apple Pay on their website.
One thing to note that I found is TD Canada Trust actually has a link about Apple Pay (though it’s blank). I don’t know how long it’s been there, but was interesting that they’d actually create a page for it.
https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/banking/electronic-banking/applepay.jsp
With this no longer being stickied at the top of iPiC, does that mean they no longer have faith in it launching within the next 30 days?
Update: TD Canada Trust accidentally leaks Apple Pay on their website https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/td-canada-trust-apple-pay/