Apple Pay, the companys contactless mobile payments solution, looks set to launch in the UK on 14 July, with support for the system available in several retailers along with Apples own stores.

According to 9to5Mac, sources at multiple retailers have confirmed the date, with internal memos from Waitrose and another retail partner indicating that the system will launch nationwide next week.

Apple has already begun enabling mobile point of sale systems in its own stores, and preparing promotional materials to support the launch, while staff at UK stores will receive training on supporting Apple Pay on 12 July.

In line with other contactless pay solutions, there will be a £20 cap per transaction for the time being, although there are strong indications that this will rise to £30 sometime in the autumn, and Apple Pay will almost certainly rise to match this.

The UK launch was announced at this years WWDC, and marks the first step outside the US for the mobile payments system, likely chosen because of the maturity of the UKs smartphone market and widespread adoption of contactless payments. Apple is reportedly preparing to bring the service to Canada later this year, and is also working on adding China and South Korea to the list of countries where Apple Pay will work.

The details on Apple Pays UK launch come as Apple reportedly patents a system for peer-to-peer money transfers with its Wallet app, which could see the company competing more directly with services like PayPal and Square.

The solution, reported on by Patently Apple, would make use of the Wallet system and enable users to select from nearby iPhone users, with fingerprint or passcode authentication used to secure the payments.

By uniting both peer-to-peer transfers with contactless payments under its powerful brand, such a move could see Apple Pay become the dominant mobile payment system. However, Apple does not always create the technology it patents, and even if it is planning on introducing this feature, its clearly very early days.