Apple Pay launches in Canada with American Express, available at merchants like Tim Hortons, Indigo

                                

Apple Pay, the technology giant’s system for making purchases at bricks-and-mortar stores with an iPhone, launched in Canada on Tuesday, more than a year after its release in the U.S. and four months after it debuted in the U.K.

The service in Canada will be limited to American Express cardholders, however co-branded AMEX credit cards — like one offered by Bank of Nova Scotia — are not included in the deal.

Starting Tuesday, Canadian users of Apple Watch and iPhone 6 models or higher will be able to make purchases by tapping their devices on merchant terminals equipped with near field communication (NFC) technology and AMEX’s contactless payments system.

Apple Inc. and American Express said any merchant equipped with the AMEX system could accept Apple Pay, but did not disclose how exactly many retailers have the technology. However, they did say that businesses such as Tim Hortons, Indigo, McDonald’s, Petro Canada and Staples, are equipped.

The service is also due to roll out to AMEX cardholders in Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong next year.

Canadians who own the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 or higher can also make in-app purchases using Apple Pay from companies such as Uber, Starbucks, Domino’s, Groupon, Priceline and Beyond the Rack.

Apple Pay joins other mobile payment services offered by Google Inc.’s Android and BlackBerry Ltd. According to ComScore Inc., 40 per cent of Canadians who own a smartphone, own an iPhone.

A Forrester Research report in October said consumer adoption of Apple Pay has been modest. In the first nine months after launch, only six per cent of U.S. iOS users have used Apple Pay, the market research firm found.

However, there is considerable potential, analyst Jacob Morgan wrote, since it has been quickly adopted by U.S. banks and iPhone 6 models have been selling in record numbers.

“Apple Pay has brought improvements in security and customer experience to the payments landscape and has seen encouraging early adoption in the U.S.,” Morgan wrote.

Cook has previously said that Apple Pay is on track to be available at more than 1.5 million point-of-sale locations in the U.S. by the end of 2015, up from 220,000 at launch.