Consumers peruse the offerings at a Best Buy store in Emeryville, California.

Consumers shop in a Moscow grocery store

Consumers walk around the Manhattan Mall in New York City.

Verizon and Sprint are moving to 4G platforms. They face the issue of whether consumers need and will pay for super-fast wireless.

In 1995, consumers in Sydney, Australia go gaga for Windows 95, Microsoft's most rapturously-received upgrade of all time

Chinese consumers shopping at a sports store in Luohu, Shenzhen

The road aheadChinese consumers, like these heading to a Shanghai mall, continue to spend at a healthy pace

American consumers, like these in Chicago, may finally be pulling back

Seoul's active consumers are giving retail sales a kick

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 file photo, a man walks past an advertisement of Apple's iPad 2 in Shanghai, China. Apple apologized to Chinese consumers after government media attacked its repair policies for two weeks in a campaign that reeked of economic nationalism. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

"A bright picture:" Consumers of 1981, at the dawn of China's economic reform

Seoul's active consumers are giving retail sales a kick

ON THE MARCH:Parmalat consumers and investors protest in front of Rome's Bankitalia headquarters.

Chen is teaching high-end Chinese consumers what to wear, buy —and even read

Arrogant Frog wine pokes fun at France's reputation for haughtiness in wine-making and takes a page from the New World marketing playbook to reach foreign consumers