UK McDonald’s Locations Begin To Install Qi Wireless Charging Stations For Patrons

Thursday, January 8, 2015

UK McDonald’s Locations Begin To Install Qi Wireless Charging Stations For Patrons

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You may absolutely hate McDonald’s for the food, but when it comes to embracing new technology, oddly enough McDonald’s is right up there with some of the most advanced, certainly more than its competitors. They like many establishments began offering free WiFi to customers, some amount of years back in many of their top locations, but prior to that you’d be a little more hard pressed to find it outside of local coffee shops and chains. Now it’s literally everywhere. McDonald’s was also one of the first companies to begin accepting Google Wallet payments on a wide scale(and they still take them to this day), and now, in the UK at least, they’re beginning to offer wireless charging stations for customers.

Some 50 locations in the UK are already offering the ability for customers to top up their phones with a little extra juice when they need it, and it’s useable at no cost, although while you’re there you might want to find something to snack on. At least, that’s probably what McDonald’s is hoping, that these wireless charging stations will draw in more customers and it probably will. McDonald’s is introducing these wireless charging pads in partnership with a company called Air-Charge, who has provided around 600 water-resistant wireless charging points spread across the 50 locations that are pioneering the tech in their establishments.

Qi wireless charging is still not used in a majority of handsets today, which is why Air-Charge has also equipped the charge pads with a connector for most phones that allows them to charge on the pad, and of course any devices that are covered with a wireless charging compatible case can use the pads too. Since these are in somewhat limited supply at the moment reports have stated that some customers ended up waiting more than a half hour just to have a chance to charge their phone. If this picks up, expect to see these launched in many more of their major stores around the UK and possibly in other regions as well. Other companies may want to take note of McDonald’s tactics here, because there’s no doubt it’s bringing them some business that may have gone elsewhere.