It seems that Ken Denman, CEO of iPass, and his good nature can take credit for the T-Mobile deal going through: Denman was around when iPass originally made a deal with MobileStar, then he watched MobileStar head to bankruptcy. But he managed to keep the doors open to making another deal with T-Mobile, which scooped up MobileStar. Apparently negotiations on the details of the T-Mobile deal were stalling but Denman got pulled in and both sides gave up ground to make it happen. IPass is in the midst of making a similar deal with Cometa, where Denman is equally respected.
Not to add to the lovefest here, but Glenn and I talked to Denman a week or so ago about the T-Moble deal and we were impressed that Denman seems like a regular guy--he's not full of lame marketing-speak. He also seems to know what he's talking about--he's not just a smooth, figurehead CEO.