Digital Trends

Sprint has announced that it’s partnered with mShopper to launch a mobile shopping portal, making it the first US wireless carrier to have such a service.

It will be available as a tool to customers with monthly data plans, who can then access the Sprint Mobile Shopper portal and make purchases from several different retailers. The mobile tool will allow users to compare prices and products and buy online.

It’s all possible because of Sprint’s high-speed data network, and this new service means that the company can now really do something concrete with it and make money from mobile commerce, a field that’s grown rapidly on other continents.

To use the portal, Sprint users first set up a Mobile Shopper account, either online or via their cell phones. The account stores a credit card number, meaning all they need to make purchases is a secure PIN.

Much of the possible success of a mobile commerce venture depends on ease of use, and Sprint is endeavoring to make Mobile Shopper just that. It’s free to use for customers with data-enabled phones, and can be accessed by simply typing “shop” into the handset’s web search box.

“With Mobile Shopper, Sprint customers get a powerful shopping tool that they can use on-the-go to buy products or compare online prices to in-store merchandise," Sprint's director of consumer data applications, George Ranallo, announced in a statement.