According to industry leaders, the technology is now starting a wave in the country.

According to some of the latest data out of Canada, mobile payments, such as money transfers, are starting to pick up quite quickly, as the industry reaches the close of its second year within the country.

Contactless transactions, specifically, are starting to take hold inside that country.

Though the case on the other side of the world, in India, is showing a massive hesitation to adopt mobile payments technology, the exact opposite appears to be happening in Canada. The true strength in this part of the industry appears to be in contactless technology – NFC technology. Tap and go is catching on and Canadians are starting to become accustomed to it.

MasterCard has now ranked Canada as the second most prepared country for mobile payments.

The ranking from MasterCard placed only Singapore ahead of Canada in terms of being prepared for the widespread adoption of mobile payments. It assigned a score of 0 to 100. Canada scored a 42, whereas Singapore received a score of 45.6. The global average was 33.2.

That said, despite the widespread adoption of smartphones in India and its tremendous population, it is still lagging behind the world at a score of only 31.5. This ranking was the result of the data accumulated by MasterCard in a survey that involved the participation of mobile networks, banks, and governments. It revealed that in the Mobile Commerce Clusters score, Canada has fared very well.

At the same time, aside from mobile payments, the survey also identified a number of other trends. For example, credit and debit cards are continuing to grow their share of the overall industry over other methods such as cash and checks. Approximately one in three total transactions are done by cash, and card transactions are picking up considerably within the sound financial system of that country.

Smartphone penetration is also considerable in Canada. That, along with the cooperation of the government, mobile networks, and banks, has meant that this market is increasingly prepared to take part in mobile payments on a mainstream scale.

Walmart and Best Buy are already pulling out all the stops when it comes to selling the latest Apple device.

The Apple iPad Air will officially be available for purchase as of Friday, November 1, 2013, and many companies are already getting ready for the tablet commerce battle of the year to make sure that they will be the ones that will make the most sales from these highly coveted devices.

In fact, many retailers have been preparing themselves for a sales war unlike any that they have ever experienced.

In the spotlight, at the moment, are the tablet commerce efforts being made by Walmart and Best Buy, which have aggressively stepped up their games in order to secure their hold on the iPad sales market. They are both seeking to draw the largest number of buyers for the first wave of sales of these devices.

This includes tablet commerce efforts to offer these gadgets at a lower price than the competition.

For instance, Walmart has announced that for the product launch, it will be offering one of its “roll back” promotions so that the iPad Air will be available for $479. However, this hardly suggests that the retail giant will be the only place that a deal can be found to purchase this device. Other retailers – particularly Best Buy – are well aware of that company’s tactics and are making moves to ensure that their own offers are more appealing to consumers.

In this light, it has been rumored – though not yet confirmed (that is expected very soon) – that in the effort to lead the way in tablet commerce, Best Buy will agree to match the price of any competitor that is selling the iPad Air.

When all is said and done, that first weekend will clearly be offering consumers a range of different tablet commerce savings opportunities while they comparison shop to be able to purchase the latest gadgets from Apple. Even Apple, itself, has announced its own effort, saying that its shops will open their doors an hour earlier than usual in order to help to accommodate the rush of shoppers.