Dropping the f-bomb and critiquing data caps that limit porn viewing on smartphones, T-Moblie CEO John Legere’s last Consumer Electronics presentation could be called reckless. According to Roger Cheng of CNet,  this approach is matched by a thorough an aggressive new business strategy that shakes up the industry and makes Legere the “Most Dangerous Man in Wireless.”

T-Mobile U.S. reported the greatest increase in customer growth in four years with 1.1 million customers during the second quarter, including 678,000 for its primary T-Mobile and MetroPCS brands. Cheng notes that this is the highest customer gain T-Mobile has had in four years. The company expects to gain 1.2 million new customers this year. T-Mobile’s recent iPhone offerings, which preceded this boom, may seem key to the company’s growth, but Legere argues otherwise. According to Legere, the wireless carrier market has become “fat and bloated.” He contends that T-Mobile’s surge in customer acquisition is attributable to an innovative “un-carrier” approach that allows them to be agile and take customers from the competition.

Ina Fried of AllThingsD reported that T-Mobile’s smartphone sales last quarter represented an impressive 86% of devices sold. Legere noted that only 21% of those sales were iPhones. This percentage does suggest that Apple was not as crucial to T-Mobile’s success as Brian Chaffin of MacObserver explains, “Larger carriers like AT&T and Verizon usually report a mix closer to 50 percent of new devices sold being iPhones.” He adds, “Customers are responding extremely well to the moves we are making.”

T-Mobile has made some important changes to their customer offerings in March of this year. Notably, the company added the iPhone, eliminated contracts and subsidized phones. This is offering is distinct as Chaffin notes, “Other carriers bake the subsidized price into their plans, which means customers keep paying long after that subsidy has been covered unless they get a new device with a new contract.” T-Mobile also added new options like “Jump,” which allows customers who pay $10 per month to upgrade phones as often as twice a year.

As T-Mobile is currently only the fourth largest carrier in the U.S., the company still has a long way to go in terms of a total comeback, in which convincing customers to switch carriers will be crucial. Going forward, Fried also shares that T-Mobile plans to add more customers in the second half of the year than the company did in the first. In return, Legere expects a competitive response from other leading carriers. The company aims to attract customers from Cricket, which is currently being acquired by AT&T. Legere states that just because AT&T is buying Leap “doesn’t mean there will be any customers left by the time they get through the process.”

Legere’s bad boy persona is seen in Tweets like the one below that openly mock competitors. His brazen attitude may prove more crucial than Apple to T-Mobile’s trajectory.

Image Credit: CNet