Apple, T-Mobile CEOs — so different, yet so alike

At first glance, there are hardly two more contrasting high-profile CEOs than Apple’s (AAPL) Tim Cook and T-Mobile’s (TMUS) John Legere. But look past the conflicting styles of speaking (and dressing) and the two are playing many of the same strategies — with great success.

On the surface, though, what a difference.

At Apple’s locked-down event on a college campus in Cupertino, Calif., last week, Cook appeared in a wrinkly, open-collared blue shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, baggy Dad jeans and black sneakers, his silver hair close-cropped. The final reveal at the event? Aging rock band U2.

The next day, at  a T-Mobile store in the middle of downtown San Francisco, Legere, brushing back his long black bangs, appeared in his trademark hot-pink company T-shirt, matching hot pink sneakers and a space-age black, zippered jacket. His entry song? DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What.”

Cook delivered his well-rehearsed spiel in a slow, drawn out, pause-filled Alabama drawl. Legere? A rapid-fire rant, mostly off-the-cuff and, as always, laced with expletives (“The shit that's being said externally is starting to blow my mind!").

But despite their conflicting styles, both CEOs are drawing customers in droves. Amid booming iPhone sales, Apple grabbed 42% of U.S. smartphone usage in the second quarter — a new high for the company and more than any other vendor, according to Comscore. Apple shares are up 54% over the past year.

And Legere has reversed his company’s losing ways, adding 5 million net new branded subscribers over the past six quarters. And, more recently,, August was the biggest month of growth for T-Mobile, ever, Legere said. T-Mobile’s shares are up 24% over the past year, though a dearth of M&A chatter has dragged the price down over the past few months.

So how are the two CEOs doing it? It starts with designing products focused on customer needs, a surprisingly rare trait in technology and telecommunications companies. Both are also savvy about attracting free media coverage, offering sometimes outlandish stretch goals, belittling competitors and talking directly to customers.

Legere was in San Francisco to unveil the seventh piece of T-Mobile’s “Uncarrier” strategy, this time focused on free calling using wifi, along with free texting from many air flights. Prior initiatives included slashing fees on international roaming and family plans, ending two-year contracts and exempting many music downloads from counting against a customer’s data plan.

“Uncarrier moves are about taking away pain points,” Legere explained.

Cook, too, focused on what customers wanted. The fastest-selling segments of the smartphone industry beyond Apple were larger phones and even larger phones, so-called phablets. This year’s iPhone upgrades offered 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, up from last year’s 4-inch model.

Apple Pay, the new mobile payment plan, avoids the complications of prior effort (no need to replace your SIM card or remember a lengthy password) to simplify “tap and pay.” Likewise, Apple’s HealthKit software unifies all the exercise and medical data collected from different apps, while maintaining privacy.

“Most people that have worked on this have started by focusing on creating a business model that was centered around their self-interest instead of focusing on the user experience,” Cook explained. “We love this kind of problem; this is exactly what Apple does best.”

These aren't humble brags

Both CEOs also delivered some almost-outlandish bragging. Legere has long said his company would overtake Sprint (S), the third-largest carrier, in total subscribers. But with that goal almost in hand, Legere set a new bar – passing AT&T (T), which has more than double T-Mobile’s 50 million customers: “You heard it here first — next on our list is AT&T.”

That would take more than 15 years if AT&T stood still and T-Mobile steadily continued to add 5 million customers every 18 months.

Cook’s boasting was focused on new products. Apple Pay “will forever change the way all of us buy things.” Really? Apparently “all of us” doesn’t include the 1 billion Android users worldwide. And the Apple watch? “We set out to make the best watch in the world.” For $349, it’s probably not going to take down Rolex or Hublot.

But setting impossible goals has a way of captivating public attention, and motivating teams to work harder and set their own goals higher.

And both CEOs took shots at competitors, though Cook and his team were more oblique, while Legere spoke frankly.

“I want to thanks the three stooges for helping us deliver the biggest month ever,” Legere quipped, referring to Sprint, AT&T and Verizon (VZ).

In a less confrontational approach, Apple put up slides showing unnamed competitors phones’ slipping performance versus the iPhone, while senior VP Eddy Cue promised, “We are not in the business of collecting your data,” unlike say, Apple’s unmentioned largest rival, Google (GOOGL). Cook later told Charlie Rose, "If they're making money mainly by collecting gobs of personal data, I think you have a right to be worried."

To be sure, Apple and T-Mobile are hardly twins when it comes to corporate strategy. T-Mobile plays the low-cost card frequently, while Apple positions its products as affordable luxuries, worth more than the competition. And T-Mobile has faced a variety of merger offers already this year, while Apple is a serial acquirer, far too big to ever be a takeover target.

But there’s plenty of shared vision. In Cupertino, Apple announced its new iOS 8 software would add wifi calling with only one U.S. partner: T-Mobile. And the next day, Legere repaid the compliment.

"Unbelievable the launch that they had yesterday," he said. "I was extremely impressed."