Euro McDonald's testing wireless charging for customers

posted by Alan F. / Mar 02, 2013, 9:15 PM

Euro McDonald's testing wireless charging for customers

Imagine wirelessly recharging your phone at Mickey D's

If tests go as hoped, soon you might be able to stop into a McDonald's while overseas, and while enjoying a 60 piece McNugget lunch, wirelessly recharge your smartphone. Selected McDonald's locations in Europe are testing a Qi-based wireless charging system from a company called PowerKiss. Those with Qi-supported phones will be able to put their wireless device on a table and it will automatically start recharging. Smartphone or tablets not Qi-supported can plug in a PowerKiss ring to recharge their device. Those Micky D's testing the PowerKiss recharging system will have the technology hidden inside tables where they cannot be seen by customers.

The PowerKiss wireless recharging platform is used throughout the world in restaurants, cafes, hotels and airports. The Qi-wireless charging standard is supported by more than 150 companies globally with an installed base of more than 15 million units.

"Wireless charging will be seamlessly integrated into selected table tops of the pilot restaurants. It is hygienic, safe and unobtrusive, but at the same also functional, aesthetic and innovative. Therefore it follows McDonald’s Europe interior philosophy very well. It’s always important for us to create premium value for our mobile customers. The PowerKiss wireless charging solution fits very well into this thinking"-Eric Bourgeois, Senior Director, McDonald’s Europe

First came free Wi-Fi and now comes wireless recharging as a way to attract customers in the competitive fast food business.

source: PowerKiss, GoodNewsFinland via WMPoweruser