At the University4Mobility, held in Austin in conjunction with Wireless Agenda 2000, Andrew Seybold had several comments on AT&T Wireless' announcement of free, unlimited wireless Internet access for their PocketNet subscribers.

"It's a gutsy offering. This pricing plan will change what happens with wireless Internet in America," Seybold said. However, the use of cellular digital packet data (CDPD) for their data delivery system concerned Seybold.

"An article in The Wall Street Journal last week criticized AT&T for 'picking the wrong horse.' I tend to agree with them. [By choosing CDPD] AT&T has made a mistake."

Over the course of the day-long primer on the various technologies and services involved in deploying and delivering wireless data services, Seybold had several comments on the fledgling industry.

The Future of WAP in America: "WAP will be a problem. My view is, WAP is the Citizen's Band radio of the Internet."

IT Managers: "The big mistake IT managers make when they are choosing a wireless solution for their company is that they try to pick the network first, instead of picking devices and applications that will best suit their business."

Different Technologies: "People ask whether CDMA, or TDMA, or GSM will come out on top. I say to them, if you put a CDMA network manager in the same room with a TDMA manager and a GSM manager, tell them, 'settle your disputes and don't come out until you have the issue solved,' they would never come out. TDMA / CDMA / GSM is a religious war, and since they're all going to end up on a single phone anyway, it's not going to matter."

Application Development: "Developers have to make (these new applications) compelling and easy to use. Otherwise, people will not adopt them, and all of your work is wasted."