Purveyor of meat themed products McDonalds is installing 600 charging hotspots in 50 of its British restaurants.
The move means that anyone with a compatible smartphone or tablet can simply sit it on the counter to start automatically charging its batteries. They will have to be quick of course, it does not take long to eat at McDonalds, something seems to propel you from the building after five minutes.
The setup is part of a deal with wireless charging technology company Air Charge which will provide the charging pads, which operate on the Qi standard.
Air Charge made the announcement during this week’s International CES in Las Vegas but it has been trailed in some UK McDonald’s already.
The charging plates, which will be integrated into tables and counters, are water resistant and wipe clean and offer native support to 70 different smartphone handsets currently on sale.
Nokia Lumia handsets support the Qi wireless charging standard, either out of the box or via an optional back plate.
Starbucks has been named as rolling out wireless charging points across its US operation. However, rather than the Qi standard, backed by the Wireless Power Consortium, Starbucks has opted for the Power Matters Alliance standard instead.
There were three competing wireless charging standards all attempting to become the global standard, but two of them the Power Matters Alliance (which counts Google as a member) merged with the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), which is backed by Dell and Microsoft to integrate the two standards in future devices and chargers.
