It was all some could talk about when Tmo’s CEO John Legere got thrown out of the At&t party that he attended back during CES last week. Rumors had started swirling around that he was harassing other attendees of the party and that he was trespassing. That was the official word he was given after double checking with guards of the party about why he was being asked to leave, in short, At&t’s Chief really wanted him out of the party. Interestingly enough, Legere had legitimate passes to the party, but was asked to leave anyway. Legere at one pointed had commented that he just “really wanted to see Macklemore” perform, which seems like just as good of a reason to be there as any. Was this all just a publicity stunt by T-Mobile’s CEO to get some exposure? That’s what people thought, but according to TMOnews this isn’t the case. However, T-Mobile ended up getting some attention anyway, which might not necessarily have been a bad thing.
In addition to T-Mobile being in the news over the CES event, Big Magenta had some things to say regarding the many questions over the Sprint buyout. When Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert was asked about the merger, he had this to say in response:
“We envision a better industry where if you’re not happy with where you are, you can just move to another carrier. We’re willing to take that risk, we’re passionate about being the best and we know people will stay. It’s a different philosophy.We’ve no interest in any future for our company that would change our basic philosophy. None.”
While this isn’t a clear cut “yes” or “no”, and it is a bit cryptic, it sounds like that should a Sprint buyout of T-Mobile cause any sort of changes, Siever is saying they would be completely opposed to it. That being said, we still have no idea whether a company buyout would lead to a breakdown of the T-mobile philosophy the company stands behind so dearly.
T-Mobile CEO Legere also had some things to say in regards to At&t at his interview with NYT, and his response to one thing in particular makes you think. After At&t announced their plans for sponsored data, Legere commented that,
“Can you imagine that that was one of the top things you have to announce at CES, that your customers are so pissed about their data caps you’ve found a way to generate a revenue stream?”
When later asked about Uncarrier in the interview, Legere said this
“What I find interesting is people really believe that AT&T hasn’t started fighting yet. They’re in full fight mode. You go fromNext, you go to zero down payments, you go to what they did over the holidays – they changed their dress attire in the stores. And then they came out with a plan to try to throw cash at people. That’s as good as it gets and it’s not working.”
Legere obviously feels passionate about his company, and isn’t afraid to speak his mind about it or his competitors. What do you think about T-Mobile? Do you use At&t and if so what do you think about their plans for sponsored data? Let us know what you think in the comments.