(Mr. Rahimi said he used to permit customers to do so, but other diners with children objected).
Priceline will permit customers to choose their destination, departure and return dates and the number of hotel rooms needed.
Click-and-collect services, which permit customers to buy online and collect their orders in person, have undercut another advantage that discounters often tout: speed of transaction.
For land-line telephones, a few years ago the F.C.C. began requiring that phone companies permit customers to keep their numbers when changing carriers.
To maintain objectivity, you may want to seek the opinions of fellow executives, trade association officials and staff, or, if relationships permit, customers and suppliers.
Waiterless restaurants in China permit customers to order and pay through the WeChat app and feature robot servers that dispatch trays of food to the appropriate tables.
Efforts to permit customers to pay bills online, send certified mail and offer computerized postage stamps have also suffered from disorganization and incomplete accounting, according to the G.A.O., a Congressional investigative agency.
Achex, whose systems permit customers to pay for goods online with their checking accounts, is the latest deal this year by First Data, which also took a majority stake in the electronic money transfer network NYCE.
Some sites also permit customers to pick out cover art and, if the CD is intended as a gift, to write personal liner notes that will be laser-printed on the sleeve.
REUTERS Bank of America Said to Consider Prohibiting Overdrafts | The bank "is considering a plan to introduce a checking account that wouldn't permit customers to overdraw their balances at an automated teller machine or when making an automatic bill payment, according to people familiar with the bank's strategy," The Wall Street Journal reports.
In his message, which was obtained by The New York Times from a person close to Apple, Mr. Glaser asked Mr. Jobs to consider licensing Apple's Fairplay digital rights management system to RealNetworks to permit customers of the RealNetworks music service to play their digital music collections on iPod players.
