Apple Partnering With American Express to Bring Apple Pay to Canada, Australia, Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Partnering With American Express to Bring Apple Pay to Canada, Australia, Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong

by

During today's earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a partnership with American Express that will bring the Apple Pay to customers in "key global markets."

Under the partnership, Apple Pay will be available to eligible American Express customers in Canada and Australia later this year, and access will expand to Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong beginning in 2016.

apple pay wwdc 2015
Since its launch in the United States in 2014, the international rollout of Apple Pay has been slow. Customers in the United Kingdom gained access to Apple Pay in July, but aside from the U.S. and the UK, Apple Pay has not yet expanded to additional countries.

It is not clear when other banks and credit card companies in Australia, Canada, and other above listed countries will begin accepting Apple Pay, making the initial Apple Pay rollout in those countries somewhat limited.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: American Express
Related Forum: Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+

Top Rated Comments

pgiguere1 Avatar
pgiguere1
137 months ago
I'm Canadian and I don't think I know a single person using an American Express credit card.

Here half of retailers accepting credit cards don't accept Amex, which makes it not super useful. Everybody seems to be using Visa or MasterCard.

This is also not useful for Americans visiting Canada since they could already use ApplePay here.

So yeah, it's pretty pointless... I'd be curious to know if this is also the case for the other listed countries.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
P
Playgear
137 months ago
Hopefully the banks of Australia suck up their pride and give in soon after.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
SuspiciousWink
137 months ago
Ugh pathetic for Australia. Partner with the banks instead.

Amex is probably the least used, most over priced and definitely the least accepted credit card company in Australia.

Hopefully the banks, many of whom already offer NFC payments to Android customers through their own apps and universally by adhesive NFC tags, will get off their little moral high horse and let Apple in for a bit!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
N
newdeal
137 months ago
I am guessing canadian banks are holding it up and so they can do Amex because Amex doesn't operate through banks in Canada. Unfortunately most retailers have tap to pay in Canada and most of them also don't accept Amex cards due to the high fees and low penetration in the canadian market
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mattyu007 Avatar
mattyu007
137 months ago
I'm Canadian and I don't think I know a single person using an American Express credit card.

Here half of retailers accepting credit cards don't accept Amex, which makes it not super useful. Everybody seems to be using Visa or MasterCard.
I'm pretty sure it's well above 75% or 80% who don't accept Amex. And since Costco switched its card from Amex to MasterCard, everyone I know who had an Amex card has cancelled their cards and switched to either MasterCard or Visa.

This joke is even more frustrating than no announcement at all.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JXShine Avatar
JXShine
137 months ago
Sigh Apple, get your **** together. No one uses AMEX in Canada, work out something with the banks! Tim Cook may be a great businessman, but when it comes to negotiations, he is way worse than Steve Jobs.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments