Hasta La Gadget!

Time and again it has been rumored that SoftBank is shopping around for a major mobile carrier. Over the past few months there has been endless speculation about a possible acquisition of T-Mobile U.S. by SoftBank, and a subsequent merger with Sprint, which it owns. Apparently federal regulators aren’t warming up to the idea, so perhaps SoftBank has started looking elsewhere. There’s increasing speculation that it may be considering a bid for UK-based Vodafone. Though this doesn’t mean that the T-Mobile deal is gone for good.

Vodafone has already significantly reduced its presence in the U.S. It had a 45 percent stake in Verizon, which it has decided to sell back to Big Red for $130 billion. While its not offering itself up for sale, there have been rumors about AT&T considering a move on UK’s second largest carrier. Word on the street is that the carrier may offer as much as $80 billion for Vodafone. AT&T has only recently started downplaying the rumors.

According to analysts, if a Vodafone takeover deal is reached, Japanese banks could provide SoftBank with funding. Its already set to make billions of dollars from Alibaba’s U.S. IPO, SoftBank has a 37 percent in the e-commerce website. Analysts also believe that if Vodafone sells off its European assets, it may simply spin off wireless businesses in markets like India.

SoftBank and Vodafone haven’t commented on speculation as yet, so there’s no indication if talks have actually begun. As far as the T-Mobile deal goes, both companies are said to have held talks, but apparently regulators have warned that they’ll strike down any takeover deal.

SoftBank Reportedly Considering Bid For Vodafone , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, AT&T, softbank, vodafone,

Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank has just made an announcement for a couple of new smartphones, namely the Sharp Aquos Xx 302SH and the Sharp Aquos Xx mini 303SH. The introduction of these two smartphones would mean that they would be part of the recently unveiled Fujitsu Arrows A family which was also revealed to play a role in SoftBank’s winter range of smartphones.

Just what kind of hardware capability does these two smartphones carry with them? Well, for starters, they will be LTE-enabled and will run on the latest Snapdragon 800 chipset which happens to sport a quad-core 2.2GHz Krait 400 processor accompanied by an Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB RAM, although at the recently concluded CEATEC 2013 in Japan, we were introduced to 5G connectivity that will make up part of the country’s communications infrastructure in due time.

Apart from that, both Aquos Xx smartphones will also come with 1080p IGZO displays alongside Android 4.2 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice. In terms of hardware connectivity, they will remain the same, boasting LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth, GPS and an Infrared port. Needless to say, Sharp has made sure that they keep up with the times by being water- and dust-proof as well. No word on pricing has been revealed just yet, so stay tuned. [Press Release]

SoftBank Announces Sharp Aquos Xx 302SH And Sharp Aquos Xx mini 303SH original content from Ubergizmo.

Softbank has just held its biannual showcase to reveal its new smartphone family and, as is often the case with Japanese carriers, there’s a few interesting devices alongside the more predictable iPhone fare. Poring over the company’s Winter 2013 collection, it’s Fujitsu’s Arrows A 301F that immediately jumps out, with the particularly useful ability to charge up “a full day” of use in just 10 minutes. However, we’re not sure whether that’s thanks to the processor or a “dedicated” AC adapter that comes with the device. The 2,600mAh battery will reportedly offer three days of use on a full charge and is accompanied by some more familiar smartphone specs, like a 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 800 processor, and 13-megapixel camera sensor. Talking of sensors, there’s one other feature that’s had plenty of attention elsewhere recently: a fingerprint reader. On the Arrow A, it’s located on the rear, just below the flash and camera sensor, although the company hasn’t elaborated on its uses. The phone will launch in Japan this December.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Softbank

It was recently where Softbank managed to acquire a controlling stake in major US carrier, Sprint, and unsurprisingly it seems that Sprint might not have been the only company that the Japanese company had their eye on. According to a […]

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SoftBank today announced the completion of acquisition of the America’s 3rd-largest mobile carrier, Sprint Nextel Corporation.

SoftBank spent $21.6 billion to gain 78% of the new Sprint’s shares. In accordance with the transaction, Sprint has been renamed Sprint Communications, Inc., and Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank became Chairman of the Sprint Corporation.

SoftBank said that they plan to invest approximately $16 billion in new Sprint for their LTE network during the next 2 years to make them competitive with Verizon and AT&T.