McDonald's Begins National Push of Softcard Mobile Wallet

McDonald's is putting more promotional muscle behind Softcard, the telco-backed mobile wallet, at a time when Apple Pay is raising overall awareness of mobile payment technology.

McDonald's also helped promote the Softcard wallet during its 2013 pilot phase, when the wallet was available only in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. At the time, Softcard was called Isis; it changed its name this year.

"The scale and reach of McDonald's will drive mobile payments further into the mainstream and demonstrate the value Softcard delivers to both merchants and customers," said Michael Abbott, Softcard's chief executive, in an Oct. 28 press release.

McDonald's supports payments from Softcard and other mobile wallets in its stores and at its drive-thru lanes. Ahead of Apple Pay's launch last week, the fast food chain began training its employees to accept Apple's wallet at the drive-thru.

Softcard was created by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. It enables contactless payments from phones equipped with a Near Field Communication chip or, in the case of older iPhones, through an NFC-equipped sleeve.