A previous rumour indicated that Apple Pay — Apple’s mobile payment and digital wallet service — could arrive in Canada by “early 2015,” or as soon as March.
To date, there is no knowledge of the merchants, banks or credit unions Apple is in talks with. Apple has been quiet on a Canadian launch and only states on its site that Apple Pay will be available sometime in 2015.
In an interview with PYMNTS, Linda Mantia, EVP of Digital, Payments and Cards at RBC, was asked her views on Apple Pay and its prospects in Canada. Mantia stated, “until now we haven’t been able to talk to them about mobile payment. While the launch of Apple Pay is unknown in Canada, it is of major interest to the industry and a good thing for consumers; it provides an easy way to pay with a client’s credit or debit card.”
With RBC being the largest financial institution in Canada (in terms of customers), hopefully this is just smoke and mirrors and the early 2015 date still comes true.
Mobile payments in Canada has experienced a slow adoption rate, but RBC says that change is coming. “In the next couple of years, we will see a convergence of mobile and online. We see the merchants point-of-sale changing in many ways to reflect e-commerce. We will see the consumer having the ability to go beyond just payments; the payment will simply be a means to an end,” said Mantia. “The consumer will also have a single-stream solution that enables them to use their loyalty points (earn and redeem), access to gift cards online (add, reload, check balance), opt-in to merchant offers at retailers they are loyal to, digital receipts, etc. Ultimately, the consumer will never have to carry plastic or paper again.”
RBC entered the mobile payment game last year with the RBC Wallet. The service a partnership between Bell and Virgin Mobile and allows customers to pay for small ticket items with their smartphone.
Read More: RBC talks the future of mobile payments as it rolls out Host Card Emulation support
[source] PYMNTS [/source][via] iPhoneInCanada [/via]
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