An internal memo sent to McDonald’s franchises this week indicates that the fast food chain is preparing to roll out a mobile payment platform on September 15th. According to the notice, employees are required to be trained on the systems by Monday the 15th and the hardware, which has already started arriving at some locations, must be installed and tested before that date.
It doesn’t seem likely that this is Apple’s upcoming iPhone-exclusive payment system, which the the Cupertino tech firm is already partnering with retailers to roll out, but will instead be a cross-platform NFC option using standard VeriFone hardware that already exists in many locations. That’s not to say the iPhone 6 won’t be able to take advantage of this, as the unannounced device is said to support NFC using chips made by XNP.
Earlier this year, Business Insider reported that McDonald’s was testing an upcoming mobile application that would allow customers to place orders from anywhere, then drop in at the restaurant to pick up the food, likely with a component that would allow them to pay using their phone. It’s likely that this rollout indicates this program will be launching nationally soon.
