Apple Pay rumoured to be launched this week

Apple has reportedly asked its employees to attend a one-hour training session, fuelling speculations that the company is close to launching its new service, Apple Pay, this week.

According to Mashable, it's also been reported that a memo to Walgreens managers points to a launch date as soon as October 18. Apple will hold a media event on Thursday, and it's possible that the company will officially launch the service or give more details about its launch date.

9to5Mac claims to have access to certain training materials and setup screenshots disclosing more information on Apple Pay's interface and transaction functions.

The report said that the service could be activated via the iOS 8 setup process or a new settings tab called Passbook and Apple Pay.

The Apple Pay display shows a list of recent transactions, card numbers and other details related to users' account. Users get push notifications when credit cards expire too, the report added.