Softbank

It would appear that the United States Government is putting pressure on Huawei not only inside the USA, but abroad as well. On concerns that the brand Huawei is a sort of spy for the Chinese state, the US Government effectively carpet-bombed Huawei out of North America - getting all major carriers to drop all Huawei brand products in the process. Now it would seem that the US government wants not only T-Mobile and Sprint to continue to avoid Huawei, it wants their parent companies to drop Huawei hardware as well.

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Sharp heard you complaining about smartphone display notches and clearly decided to really give you something to moan about, with the new Sharp Aquos R2 Compact having not one but two of the screen cut-outs. The diminutive Android phone has one of Sharp's well-esteemed IGZO LCD displays, but to stay true to its "Compact" billing it takes bites out of that panel top and bottom.

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Toyota is the biggest Japanese automotive manufacturer and Softbank is one of the biggest tech firms in the country. The two firms have announced they have tied up to develop a platform that will allow the operation of self-driving vehicles. The duo sees these vehicles being used as mobile shops, hospitals, and other services in the future where fewer people control their own vehicles.

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GM Cruse is getting a $2.25bn injection from SoftBank, as General Motors' autonomous driving company prepares for its commercial launch in 2019. The investment - which comes alongside $1.1bn more from GM itself - sees GM Cruise valued at $11.5bn overall, with the SoftBank Vision Fund taking an almost 20-percent stake in the firm.

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After several months of negotiations, Japanese tech firm SoftBank will be acquiring a 20% stake in Uber as part of an investment deal with the troubled ride hailing company. Uber's many problems — which have been seen throughout 2017, including numerous reports of sexism, illegal business tactics, and questionable software — are also reflected in the company's updated valuation, which has dropped from roughly $70 billion to $48 billion.

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It looks one of the largest mergers between US mobile carriers in recent history just wasn't meant to be. Both T-Mobile and Sprint have announced that they won't be moving forward with their plans, and have finally called off negotiations following months of back-and-forth discussions. The two companies have jointly stated that they were "unable to find mutually agreeable terms."

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Failure to agree on favorable ownership terms will result in SoftBank calling off merger talks between Sprint and T-Mobile, according to sources who say the change may happen tomorrow. SoftBank will itself propose ending the talks with Deutsche Telekom, the sources claim, saying the two companies have failed to make a deal over ownership of the entity that would result from the merger.

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One of SoftBank's favorite pastimes seems to be buying up other companies, so it's not really much of a surprise to hear that it might be close to striking a deal with Uber. This doesn't appear to be a Sprint-scale buyout, where SoftBank is looking to acquire a majority stake in Uber. Instead, it could own as much as 20% of the company by the time everything is said and done.

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Robotics aficionados may have mixed feelings right now. On the one hand, Alphabet, Google's parent compny has just sold Boston Dynamics, potentially saving the robotics company from descending into obsolescence in the company. On the other hand, the buyer is none other than Japan's Softbank, which may raise a few eyebrows within the tech industry and raising the biggest question of all: what does Softbank plan to do with Boston Dynamics' giant robots?

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It's been a few years now since US mobile carriers Sprint and T-Mobile held negotiations over a merger between the two companies, only to eventually be shut down by government regulators. But now that some time has passed, along with a freeze on such discussions due to the recent spectrum auction, Sprint's parent SoftBank and T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom AG are looking to revive their merger talks.

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Today we're hearing a whopper of a rumor that could have pretty big implications for the US carrier space. SoftBank is apparently eager to see Sprint, one of its subsidiaries, merge with T-Mobile, but resistance from T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom would make such a merger difficult. With Deutsche Telekom unwilling to sell its stake in T-Mobile, it sounds like SoftBank is prepared to put a lot on the line - namely, giving up its majority share in Sprint.

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A new Star Wars movie is coming out soon, so that means lots of tie-in merchandise. And few countries love big-name brands and media properties more than Japan. Put the two together and it means Japan is getting exclusive Star Wars-themed smartphones in celebration of the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

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