But if you walk into a mobile-phone shop, your handset will be up and running in five minutes.
Marketplace and auction juggernaut eBay is even sweetening the deal by offering customers free services at Bliss Spas just for using their mobile phones to shop and offering mobile-only deals of up to 80% off on Cyber Monday.
The staff at 360mind, a 20-person mobile development shop, doubled last year, and is likely to double again this year, said CEO Nick Dalton.
The cloud-based app, which delivers full Microsoft Office capabilities and Adobe Reader, along with Dropbox, Box and Google Drive integration, transforms the iPad and Android tablets into a one-stop-shop for mobile productivity, capable of creating, editing, saving and sharing Office and Adobe documents while on the go.
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He is a Salafist street preacher in his 30s who owns a small mobile phone shop in Bab al-Tabbana.
The only plan of its kind in the UK, You Fix is available from today through T-Mobile stores, from the online shop and telesales.
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Starting 5 May, however, The Skate Truck NYC, a mobile skate-rental operation, will set up shop nearby two weekends a month.
Yet Facebook could struggle to shop a more deeply-embedded mobile service in emerging markets, where local apps born on mobile platforms dominate the landscape.
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How did people shop for them (online, mobile, in-store)?
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Yang Yeng, a shopkeeper selling batteries, candles, and flashlights on the street in front of his still darkened shop in the East Village, said his T-Mobile phone was useless in the area.
GameTanium Mobile capitalizes on this new demand by providing consumers an easy one-stop shop for filling up their tablets with only the latest and best graphically rich games available on the market.
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Guests can also scan to shop with in-store QR codes, use the interactive gift finder at Target.com, on tablets and mobile devices, and shop Target in a few unexpected places, like high-traffic bus shelters.
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Launched in 2008, Castlight works with self-insured employers to create an online and mobile space where each employee can shop for health care based on price, quality and how much of their deductible has already been spent.
But a new study published by mobile-retail marketing platform provider Swirl suggests that the bigger opportunity lies in using mobile to enhance the in-store experience rather than simply enabling consumers to click to shop via their smartphones.
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In many countries mobile money has been blocked because operators do not have banking licences and their networks of corner-shop retailers do not meet the strict criteria for formal bank branches.
Mobile phones make micro-entrepreneurs vastly more productive: a plumber no longer has to return to his shop to pick up messages from clients, for example.
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HSN, as the Home Shopping Network is now known, is a multi-platform retailer, and its customers can shop via TV, online, and on mobile devices.
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Not only does it use GPS co-ordinates for mobile telephony, but also refines its accuracy using cell masts to better locate a shop or restaurant in a large building.
Surface--a highly responsive touch-screen computer the size and shape of a coffee table--is the latest attempt in the wireless industry to transform the way consumers shop for mobile devices.
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