Wi-Fi Alliance has announced the near completion of Wi-Fi Direct, a new specification that allows devices to connect to each other without joining a Wi-Fi network.

“Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn’t available,” said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. “The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise.”

Wi-Fi Alliance expects to begin certify devices with Wi-Fi Direct specification in mid-2010. Compete directly with Bluetooth for peer-to-peer networking, Wi-Fi Direct is expected to be 30 times faster than Bluetooth (with 802.11n) and has a wider coverage of up to 300 feet radius. Wi-Fi Direct can be implemented as a software upgrade for existing Wi-Fi devices. And Wi-Fi Direct device is able to create connection to hundreds of millions of legacy Wi-Fi devices currently in use.

Apple is a sponsor corporation for the Wi-Fi Alliance, so it is likely that Apple will adopt Wi-Fi Direct on Macs, iPhones, iPod and future Apple equipments.

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