Apple has just announced that Apple Pay is now available for iOS 9.1 users living in Canada. This allows iPhone owners to be able to make contactless payments at shops that have NFC equipped payment terminals and accept American Express payments. According to Apple some of the participating stores are Apple, Indigo, Tim Horton's, McDonald's, Staples, and Petro Canada.

However there is one downside though, the only ones who can use it are those who have an American Express accounts. American Express is an independent credit card issuer in Canada and compared to MasterCard and/or Visa credit cards, is not as popular and widely accepted.

But just having an American Express card doesn't mean they qualify. The AmEx card holders that will be honored are those who had their cards directly issued from the credit card company, meaning those bank issued ones like those in partnership with Scotiabank are not supported.

Apple is also said to be in talks with six other large Canadian banks about supporting and launching Apple Pay. The banks that are said to be included in the list are the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, and the National Bank of Canada. The negotiations so far have no result as it has been reportedly dragging.

Last month, TD Canada Trust has accidentally leaked an Apple Pay splash page. This incident has lead the public to think that Apple Pay will be supported by Canadian banks in the long run but are in fact, still negotiating.

If Apple Pay becomes successful and is totally unleashed into the Canadian public, there will be minimal concerns only. As Canada already has most of their retailers and other businesses within the country equipped with NFC payment terminals which is primarily the requirement for an Apple Play.

Additionally, Apple has also confirmed that Apple Pay will also support American Express in Australia later this week, the tentative ate scheduled is Nov. 19. Apple is also gearing up to launch American Express in Spain, Hong Kong and Singapore next year.

Apple Pay was first launched in the US in October 2014 and has expanded to the UK last July. It is Apple's mobile payment service that allows users to do their payments online or in store using their iPhone and/or iPads.