"Wi-Fi" is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance and the term was originally created as a simpler name for the "IEEE 802.11" standard. Wi-Fi is used by over 700 million people, there are over 4 million hotspots (places with Wi-Fi Internet connectivity) around the world, and about 800 million new Wi-Fi devices every year. Wi-Fi products that complete the Wi-Fi Alliance interoperability certification testing successfully can use the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED designation and trademark.
The term Wi-Fi suggests Wireless Fidelity, resembling the long-established audio-equipment classification term high fidelity (in use since the 1930s. Even the Wi-Fi Alliance itself has often used the phrase Wireless Fidelity in its press releases and documents; the term also appears in a white paper on Wi-Fi from However, based on Phil Belanger's statement, the term Wi-Fi was never supposed to mean anything at all. The term Wi-Fi, first used commercially in August 1999,was coined by a brand-consulting firm called Interbrand Corporation that the Alliance had hired to determine a name that was "a little catchier than 'IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence'". Belanger also stated that Interbrand invented Wi-Fi as a play on words with Hi-Fi, and also created the yin-yang-style Wi-Fi logo.
The Wi-Fi Alliance initially used an advertising slogan for Wi-Fi, "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity", but later removed the phrase from their marketing. Despite this, some documents from the Alliance dated 2003 and 2004 still contain the term Wireless Fidelity. There was no official statement related to the dropping of the term.
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