Canadian firms finally get Tap to Pay on iPhone

AppleInsider

Apple has rolled out its Tap to Pay on iPhone to Canada, meaning that businesses there can now take payments from customers on iPhone.

Tap to Pay on iPhone comes to Canada (Source: Apple)

Two years after Apple first launched it in the US, Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available to merchants in Canada, allowing them to accept contactless payments using their phones instead of dedicated readers. It also enables app developers to incorporate the feature into their iOS apps.

"Canadians increasingly rely on a variety of digital and contactless payment options," Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in a statement, "so we're excited to partner with payment platforms to offer merchants across Canada a private, secure, and easy-to-use capability that meets customers where they are."

"We've seen how merchants and customers around the world appreciate the versatility of Tap to Pay on iPhone," she continued, "and in a region as diverse as Canada's, we look forward to making it easy for businesses of any size to transact from coast to coast with just an iPhone."

Tap to Pay on iPhone replaces the separate, single-purpose, handheld devices that financial platforms sold to businesses for taking contactless payments. Now once a payment platform has adopted the new feature, its users will be able to take payments just by using an iOS app, and hold their iPhone near to the customer's.

Apple says that at launch, the first payment platforms to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone are Adyen, Moneris, Stripe, and Square. It says that others including Aurus, Chase Payment Solutions, and more will introduce the feature in over next few months.

Tap to Pay on iPhone will also begin to be available in Apple Stores in Canada later this year.

The release of the feature in Canada comes just over a week since Apple also launched it in Japan.



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Scot1

As a Canadian, I’ve been using tap on my iPhone to pay for groceries transit and restaurants for several years now, so I don’t understand this article that it’s something new. 

CuJoYYC

It's different because businesses can RECEIVE payment on their iPhone. No additional device required. This is especially suitable for contractors, mobile merchants, locksmiths, et cetera. 

Anilu_777

So where is Apple Cash in Canada?????

22july2013

I want Apple Card in Canada. Apple has already trademarked the term "Apple Card" in Canada, but there is no Apple Card here yet. Are there no banks in Canada that want to take my business away from my existing bank?

Alex1N

No doubt this will never appear in Australia. The so-called ‘Big’ Four banks will see to that.

ItsDeCia

Scot1 said:

As a Canadian, I’ve been using tap on my iPhone to pay for groceries transit and restaurants for several years now, so I don’t understand this article that it’s something new. 

Tap to Pay is not the same as Apple Pay. The service we’ve all been using until now was Apple Pay which allows you to pay for goods and services as if your iPhone was your debit or credit card.

What the article is describing is a new feature called Tap to Pay which is basically the reverse process of Apple Pay. With Tap to Pay, people can pay you with their credit and debit cards by tapping them directly on your iPhone, effectively turning your iPhone into a payment terminal. Think of your iPhone as now being the device which you use to accept the payment from a customer.

uphill

Using a phone for payment is incredibly awkward and old-fashioned. Nearly as archaic as using actual cards. I don't think I have used my iPhone for payment for at least 6 or 7 years. Apple watch is for me the only way to go. Works in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and more recently in some places in the US. So let's hope Apple quickly enables receiving payment on a watch. 

On thing not clear: with this "new" method of receiving payment, must the payer revert to the hopelessly antiquated and insecure method of using an actual card, or will the cards on my watch work?

Stabitha_Christie

22july2013 said:

I want Apple Card in Canada. Apple has already trademarked the term "Apple Card" in Canada, but there is no Apple Card here yet. Are there no banks in Canada that want to take my business away from my existing bank?

I can't imagine that the effort of setting up a co-branded card to gain a single customer is worth it.