Last year, Sony announced that it would defocus on the US in its quest to become a major smartphone player again, because of its traditional difficulty in penetrating the north American carriers. However, it may well rethink that high risk strategy now that Sprint is owned by a Japanese operator, Softbank. In fact, despite being compatriots, Softbank and Sony have not previously partnered either – unlike NTT Docomo and KDDI, Japan’s third cellco has not relied heavily on local suppliers, and indeed differentiated itself by making an early move to support the iPhone and other global brands. Now, however, the company is growing closer to homegrown suppliers, over which it can exercise more control than over multinational giants, and is…