Sprint to offer online shopping on cell phones
|
|
|
| Posted
:
Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:29:07 GMT |
| By
:
Reuters |
| Category
:
US (Business) |
| News Alerts by
Email ( click
here ) |
|
US Business News |
Home
|
|
|
|
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp customers can now use mobile phones to shop for everything from shoes to televisions in a new service the No. 3 U.S. wireless company has launched to boost revenue.The company said on Thursday it is providing a mobile Web portal for shoppers to compare prices or buy about 7 million products from 30 online retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc , Target Corp bluefly.com and shoes.com.Sprint, which developed its Mobile Shopper service with privately held start-up mShopper.com, said it is the first to launch such a service in the United States.It said it will not charge mobile users extra subscription fees for the service, but it will charge them for Web access."The big opportunity for Sprint is the potential increase of data usage," said Sprint product manager Charnsin Tulyasathien.Sprint, along with its rivals, has been pushing data services such as Web surfing and video and music downloads in an effort to get customers to use their phones for more than just talking.While online shopping from desktop computers have long become mainstream, mobile commerce has yet to take off as the adoption of Web-surfing on cell phone has been slow.But faster wireless data speeds and better handsets could boost the mobile shopping market, said Jupiter Research analyst Alan Goode.Goode forecast the North American market for mobile online shopping would increase to $505 million in 2008 and $1.9 billion in 2010 from about $40 million in 2006. This compared with a $200 million market in Europe in 2006.Initially, Tulyasathien expects the comparison shopping feature to be more popular among Sprint shoppers than purchasing, but he believes that will change."As people become more comfortable, I wouldn't be surprised if they started making more purchases through Mobile Shopper," he added.(Reporting by Sinead Carew)
(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Five more US bank failures bring total for 2009 to 120
New York - Bank failures in the United States have risen to 120 this year as five more regional institutions were added to the list, the US agency that guarantees the safety of bank deposits said. United Commercial Bank in San Francisco with assets o...
US stocks climb slightly despite double-digit jobless rate
New York - US stocks posted mild gains Friday to end the week as investors shrugged off government figures that put the unemployment rate above 10 per cent. The Labour Department said the jobless rate hit 10.2 per cent in the month of October, the hi...
US joblessness hits 10.2 per cent, highest in 26 years - Summary
Washington - The US unemployment rate surged to 10.2 per cent in October, the highest in 26 years as another 190,000 people lost their jobs, the Labour Department reported Friday. The figure comes after a 9.8-per-cent jobless rate in September and wa...
US joblessness jumps to 10.2 per cent, highest since 1983 - Update
Washington - The US unemployment rate surged to 10.2 per cent in October, the highest in 26 years, as another 190,000 people lost their jobs during the month, the US reported Friday. The figure reported by US Labour Department came after the 9.8 per ...
US jobless rate jumps to 10.2 per cent
Washington - The US unemployment rate surged to 10.2 per cent in October as another 190,000 people lost their jobs, according to US Labour Department figures released Friday. The jobless rate stood at 9.8 per cent in September. Unemployment had been ...
Bulls stop James, edge Cavs - Summary
Los Angeles - The King couldn't deliver in the clutch. Luol Deng and Joakim Noah combined to deny LeBron James a potential game-winning drive in the final seconds as and the visiting Chicago Bulls snapped the Cleveland Cavaliers' three-game winning...
Mortgage lender Fannie Mae posts nearly 19-billion-dollar loss
Washington - US mortgage lender Fannie Mae said Thursday that it would seek 15 billion dollars in federal aid, after posting its ninth consecutive quarterly loss. Fannie Mae reported a net loss of 18.9 billion dollars in the third quarter of 2009, co...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
