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Rumors of the coming Wi-Fi Direct are out and I’m sure it’s got the Bluetooth makers shaking in their boots.  With Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth may no longer be top dog.

Just announced at a consortium, some of the biggest players in the tech field are coming together to form an alliance to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to the public without all the hassle so often encountered now.  Intel, Apple, Cisco Systems and over 300 other tech companies are all joining up to develop and distribute technology that will turn just about any gadget into an access point that can connect with any other Wi-Fi enabled gadget within around 300 feet. 

Just think—phones, computers, gaming systems, TVs - all able to communicate together.  If you happen to own an existing Wi-Fi enabled device, you will still be able to make use of the new Direct technology by simply downloading some software.

This is what is probably going to make the Bluetooth folks a little nervous.  Now they finally have some competition and while Wi-Fi can go through your battery life more quickly than Bluetooth tends to, it has its upside in speed and a richer multimedia content.

Beyond the obvious use on cellphones, TVs implementing it are probably going to become commonplace.  Chipmaker Marvell is already in pow-wows with TV makers.  Although not many offer this technology currently, several are now thinking about adding the feature so that users can do things like transferring video and photos right onto their TV screens from cameras, camcorders and laptops.

What is also cool when you think about this technology is the fact there are so many ways it is going to be able to be used.  We hear that the technology is supposed to be able to connect both one-on-one and in a group and will come with built in WPA2 technology to keep those nasties at bay. 

Set to launch sometime mid-2010, this is something I’m definitely looking forward to seeing come to play.

Read: [businessweek]