Apple Pay to launch in first international market this year

Apple Pay will launch in Canada this autumn, according to reports on Friday.

The mobile payments platform has been US-only since it arrived within iOS 8 last October.

Now Apple is chatting with the six biggest banks north of the border with a view to launching in November, according to the Wall Street Journal’s sources.

However, it’s unlikely to be smooth sailing according those ‘familiar’ with the matter. The banks are “open to an agreement” but aren’t on board with Apple’s fees and remain concerned about security.

The banks involved in the discussions account for 90 per cent of accounts in the country, the report said, which could give Apple near-universal access across the country upon launch.

Apple is particularly interested in Canada because of the high concentration of iPhone users in the country. One in every three smartphones in the land of ice hockey and mounties are iPhones, while Apple claims a 20 per cent share globally.

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The roll out in Canada would appear to make sense for Apple, but it still remains entirely unclear when the firm will bring the contactless payments tech to Europe.

It has been reported the company has employees in its London office laying the groundwork, but at this stage it appears the Apple Pay revolution may not reach Blighty until 2016 at the earliest.