SoftBank's US Cellphone Strategy Takes Shape

SoftBank gave a glimpse of its plans to tackle the US cellphone market, unveiling a deal to develop low-cost smartphones for its Sprint unit and a new service that would allow unlimited downloads from select applications.

SoftBank said that together with fellow Japanese company Sharp it has developed a smartphone with near-frameless displays that it plans to sell through Sprint. It also introduced App Pass, a service that it plans to launch later in August, which will have a lineup of 100 applications as diverse as games, recipes and free access to news.

SoftBank and US-based Sprint will offer the handset, the Aquos Crystal, exclusively. App Pass will be preinstalled on the handsets.