“This is an amazing supercomputer in your hand,” says the CEO of the fourth largest wireless network in the U.S. (50.5 million subscribers). “What the f– are you putting it in your pants and sitting on it for?”
That soundbite, taken from the 20-minute mark in the attached YouTube, got the biggest applause — and the most press attention — last week.
But don’t stop there. In the six minutes of video that follow, T-Mobile (TMUS) CEO John Legere will tell you more about what it’s like to do business with Apple than you’ll ever hear from the current CEOs of Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T) or Sprint (S).
Excerpts from remarks by the T-shirt-wearing, baseball-bat-swinging, bad boy of U.S. Telecom at the GeekWire Summit last Thursday:
Let me help you about “bendgate,” or whatever it was. It’s not slowing down demand. The demand for these devices in the last few weeks is unbelievable… People are pissed because they can’t get ’em…
A few months before I took the job at T-Mobile, I went in and I had a list of … “I would be interested in this job IF.”
And let me help you. A blind man could see what T-Mobile needed to do. Which is: The network needed significant investments. We need spectrum at every corner. We needed to relaunch the brand. We needed to push consolidation.
But first and foremost on my list back then was go get the iPhone. Crawl over if you need to. Slide into the building. Do not pass go. Don’t collect $200. No iPhone…
Not just just because it was the iPhone. Store traffic was incomplete — people weren’t going to go into a store unless it had the full portfolio of devices…
What I learned with Apple is their quality focus is incredible, and it’s made us a better company. They forced me through the modernization of HSPA+ and the rollout of LTE much faster than I would have because they wouldn’t give me the device unless I had a certain quality and a focus.
My lead now on Sprint and others on a network standpoint came from trying to get that iPhone.
What we just did with them on VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling … again, really tough quality focus but now I think we have a real competitive advantage and surprisingly this Test Drive that we’re doing is a big deal with them.
They’re tough, but they’ve had a real impact on us. This event that just took place [i.e. The iPhone 6 launch], I think you’re going to find that we did more than our fair share.
Legere also has some choice things to say about Xavier Niel, whose Paris-based Iliad S.A. Made a hostile bid for T-Mobile in August. I can’t repeat them here. They may be actionable.
Below: The full 45-minute video, queued to the 20-minute mark.
[Youtube=http://youtu.be/8TPfpNgKlSE?t=20m8s]
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at coins2day.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.
