Beauty care products will likely be more affected than fashion items, as consumers still feel the need to physically touch or try fashion products before reaching a final decision on purchasing.
One of the chief individual beneficiaries of this has been striker Bent, who has recaptured his goalscoring touch in spectacular fashion to reinvigorate Sunderland's season and boost his chances of making Fabio Capello's squad for the World Cup this summer.
"Punk fashion started from the street and percolated up, and suddenly couture seemed out of touch and not relevant, " said Hamish Bowles, Vogue's international editor at large.
"Fashion industry friends say the Ubuntu phone and tablet are the most beautiful interfaces they've seen for touch" said Ivo Weevers, who leads the Canonical design team.