Pepsi took a risk equipping 4,500 employees with iPhones in an effort to improve operations for their merchandisers. Pepsi’s app was created in-house and automates logistics like scheduling a delivery route, managing inventory and recording shift time. But Pepsi is not the only corporation to go mobile, as Lowe’s, Starbucks and others have used smartphones and tablets to improve communication and assist in transactions. We’ll likely see a host of retailers leveraging these tools to assist customers in-store as mobile continues to impact purchase decisions for shoppers.