Consumers will soon be spoilt for – and confused by – choice in the number of ways they can move video wirelessly from one device to another.
Apple, Google, Intel and a host of lesser known companies are pushing their own technologies for this, which is why the first products signalling a unified approach, announced today by the Wi-Fi Alliance with its Wi-Fi Direct, are welcome.
Wi-Fi Direct was first unveiled a year ago, but it has taken until now for the Alliance to work out the kinks and begin certifying products capable of making device-to-device Wi-Fi connections.
In the meantime, lots of other proprietary solutions have emerged.
Apple is introducing new features in AirPlay next month, which will allow users of iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch to transfer a video they are watching onto Apple TV and watch it on a larger screen.
Google is promising something similar, where users can “fling” whatever they have on their phones onto Google TV.
Intel and Netgear have co-operated on WiDi, with a growing number of laptops with this feature able to beam video wirelessly to the TV.
Earlier this month, Amimon announced its WHDI (Wireless Home Digital Interface) Stick. This is a USB stick that can send PC or laptop content to a TV that has integrated WHDI or a receiver attached to an HDMI port.
In September, Veebeam launched a $99 box and USB antenna that used Wireless USB to send PC and laptop content wirelessly to the TV.
The Wi-Fi Alliance is emphasising many more use cases for the Wi-Fi Direct standard – sending content from your phone to a printer and wireless gaming with friends nearby, for example.
Somewhat like Bluetooth, devices discover others nearby and , in some cases, the services available.
Connections can be one-to-many, so a laptop could connect to a TV monitor, printer and digital camera at the same time, including Wi-Fi devices without Wi-Fi Direct.
“Fragmentation and confusion is not good for the market,” Edgar Figueroa, Wi-Fi Alliance chief executive, told me.
“There can be frustration with so many different solutions that are sometimes non-interoperable and are confusing in terms of the terminology and the use cases and the features that are offered. The Wi-Fi Alliance has 375 plus companies agreeing to one co-ordinated way of delivering solutions, so some of that confusion is going to go away when we have Wi-Fi Direct.”
The first certified products include some rather dull mini cards that could add Wi-Fi Direct to laptops. Sexier, fully fledged products should be on show at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where wireless flipping of content could be a big theme.
