Sprint’s narrowly missed analysts expectations for its third-quarter sales, but announced a wider loss thanks to costs associated with shutting down its Nextel business and building out its 4G network. Maybe Japan’s Softbank will help save the nation’s third-largest carrier. Read more »
Japanese mobile operator SoftBank plans to acquire a 70 percent stake in Sprint for $20.1 billion. The deal would give the cash-strapped U.S. carrier an $8 billion cash infusion and gives the Japanese carrier a foothold and spectrum in the valuable U.S. mobile market. Read more »
Japanese carrier Softbank is reportedly in talks to buy a controlling stake of Sprint in a deal that could be worth more than $12.8 billion, according to several reports. After watching T-Mobile and MetroPCS announce their intention to merge, this might help Sprint compete. Read more »
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan’s brought the world the Geigergram, the open source Geiger counter gadget, and now the world’s first radiation-sensing cell phone, according to local media reports. Read more »
PayPal is forming a joint venture with Softbank Corp. to help launch its small business mobile payment product PayPal Here in Japan. The joint venture, called PayPal Japan, will help PayPal target PayPal’s $1.7 trillion dollar retail market, which is made up of mostly small businesses. Read more »
In the wake of one of the world’s largest nuclear power disasters in history last year in Japan, the country is re-thinking its energy policy and looking to provide incentives to boost clean power starting this July. Our charticle: Read more »
Updated. Now we know why Ustream has been raising new funding, and possibly why former CEO John Ham recently stepped down. The startup collected less than half of the $75 million funding round from Japanese mobile and Internet behemoth Softbank that it announced in early 2010. Read more »
By 2015, the worldwide sales of NFC-equipped handsets will reach 263.6 million units, with the cumulative total at more than half a billion compatible devices. This report covers the current landscape for NFC, examines the technology’s different forms of deployment and forecasts its future. It also examines the various deployments of NFC technology — mobile payments, point of purchase, augmented reality — and the challenges businesses, carriers and handset makers face moving forward. Companies mentioned in this report include Google, TapIt, Amazon and NTT DoCoMo. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple may be on the verge of opening its Japanese iPhone sales to another cellular service provider, ending SoftBank’s exclusive hold on the popular smartphone. It’s the latest in a series of exclusivity-ending deals from Apple, and it’s the culmination of an elaborate marketing plan. Read more »
Very big news today for the mobile advertising world, and a major boost for the mobile ad network InMobi: the company has just announced tha… Read more at paidContent »
Japan has long supported solar energy development, but the nuclear disaster this spring pushed it to expand its clean power supplies. That effort reached a milestone on Friday when its lawmakers approved a program that will require its utilities to buy renewable electricity at government-set prices under long-term contracts. Read more »
As the digital world and connected devices take over more and more aspects of people’s lives large Internet companies are becoming more and more conscious of the need to invest in clean power and alternative resources. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Marrying ecommerce with solar isn’t a new idea, but in Japan, the nuclear disaster in March this year has inspired one Internet giant to not only start selling solar panels online but also offering financial options. Read more »
In case anyone doubts the power of Apple’s devices to lift the fortunes of its cellular network operator partners, Softbank’s newly reported fiscal first-quarter results should prove convincing. The Japanese carrier saw a nearly five-fold jump in profits compared to the same period last year. Read more »
Softbank has taken a 35 percent stake in the Chinese P2P video platform PPLive for $250 million. This deal is the single largest investment in a video company since Google’s acquisition of YouTube, and it goes to show that online video is huge in China. Read more »
The live-stream video market is entering an upturn in the typical hockey stick growth chart. Tens of millions of desktop viewers use browser-based players to find live-streaming content on an ever-increasing number of web sites and mobile devices. Raw viewership will grow fastest in the consumer segment, where sites like Justin.tv and Qik are focused. Those like Kyte, Livestream, Ustream and BitGravity, meanwhile, primarily offer platforms to commercial content providers seeking a mass audience. And as the market grows, both in terms of viewers and of the number and type of content providers, it will support both those with a diverse, one-stop-shop approach and those who specialize in particular content and audiences. Additional companies mentioned in this report include YouTube/Google, Sony, HTC, Vivu, Facebook and Apple. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Social-game maker Zynga has signed a joint-venture deal with venture fund Softbank Capital to bring its casual-gaming services to Japan, and Softbank has also invested $150 million in the company, whose Farmville and Mafia Wars games are among the most popular on Facebook. Read more »
Ustream has nabbed a major strategic investment by Japan’s Softbank that could be worth $75 million over the next 18 months. With the new funding, Ustream will look to expand in Japan, China, Korea, and India, opening offices and hiring employees to tap dramatic mobile phone […] Read more »
Wow…I had completely forgotten about RockYou, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup that started out as a widget maker but then turned social app developer and now is trying out hawking virtual goods. Sort of like the company it loves to imitate: Slide. RockYou made a splash […] Read more »
Webcam chat subscription service Paltalk has bought out its investor Softbank Capital Partners, which had purchased 20 percent of the company for $6 million in 2004. The buyout was enabled by Paltalk’s ongoing profitability, founder and CEO Jason Katz told NewTeeVee Tuesday. Katz even paid Softbank […] Read more »
