Tech

Apple Pay coming to Canada in March?

by Stephen Hui on January 9th, 2015 at 4:04 PM
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      When Apple Pay went live back in October, Canadians were predictably left out.

      Now a U.S.-based tech blog is reporting that Apple may expand its mobile payment service north of the 49th parallel as early as March.

      Unnamed sources have apparently told 9to5Mac that Apple is in talks with partners and that a Canadian launch could happen in the first half of this year.

      The blog notes that March is when the Apple Watch is expected to be released—in the U.S. anyways.

      9to5Mac reports:

      Apple and Canadian launch partners are in the process of planning advertising and other promotional material for March, which indicates that the launch could come as soon as then. Of course, these are still active discussions and it’s possible the talks could fail to result in a launch by March. Several sources, however, tell us Apple is currently targeting that timeframe.

      Apple Pay launched in the U.S. on October 20, supporting credit and debit cards from the major payment systems and banks (but not Bitcoin).

      To make a purchase in-store, users put their iPhone or iPad near a contactless reader while holding their finger on the Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

      Apple claims it doesn't collect any transaction information that can be linked to a user and likewise doesn't store users' purchase histories.

      Retailers using Apple Pay include Foot Locker, Office Depot, Toys "R" Us, and Whole Foods Market.

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