Remember the night that T-Mobile's John Legere took on a future U.S. president?
For some reason, among the thousands and thousands of stories I've had the honor to write for PhoneArena over the years, a few really stand out because they were bizarre, eerie, or just downright strange events. One was the night that an iPhone 4 prototype was left on the floor of a San Jose bar by an Apple employee. In those days, it wasn't so easy to find accurate leaks on Twitter or other social media platforms which made the discovery of the phone even more important.
On the eerie side, who could forget the story about a "time traveler" talking into a smartphone during a 1928 event for a Charlie Chaplin movie premiere? A film taken of the event showed a woman holding the "phone" up to her ear and she appeared to be talking into it. A more plausible explanation is that the woman was hard of hearing and was using what passed for a hearing aid in 1928. Still, something does appear strange about the woman when you watch the film, although I can't put my finger on it.
But hands down, the most amazing oddball story took place in April 2015 when then T-Mobile CEO John Legere got into a Twitter fight with Donald Trump just weeks before Trump rode down the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy. At the time, Legere was in his third year as CEO of T-Mobile and the carrier was dead last among the four U.S. majors.
Two heavyweight executives battle on Twitter back in 2015
The story starts with Legere inside his room inside a Trump-owned hotel when street musicians were playing loudly right outside the executive's room. T-Mobile's CEO complained on Twitter about the service at Trump's hotel which led Trump to respond in a tweet, "T-Mobile service is terrible! Why can't you do something to improve it for your customers. I don't want it in my buildings." The future president added in a separate tweet that "Verizon is the best service provider."
Legere responded by saying, "I will serve all customers in the USA openly but I will obviously leave your hotel right away based on this. #checkingout." Nearly four years later, T-Mobile spent $195,000 booking rooms and holding events at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. At the time, the rumor mill said that T-Mobile gave the Trump hotel its business to keep the president from using his influence with his personally appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to block the T-Mobile merger with Sprint.
Now, both Legere and Trump are seeking to regain power. Trump, of course, will be the Republican nominee for president with the election coming this November. About 14 months ago, just after Elon Musk assumed control of Twitter after he bought the company, Legere sent Musk a tweet suggesting that he, Legere, be given the job of running the beleaguered social media platform.
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