Many people still believe that Wi-Fi is an acronym for “Wireless Fidelity“, a play on words similar to Hi-Fi. However, Phil Belanger, one of the founding members of the Wi-Fi Alliance, has dismissed this notion.
The well-known blog Boingboing has republished Phil Belanger’s article in full, which reads as follows:
“Wi-Fi is not an acronym for any phrase. It has no meaning. Wi-Fi and its yin-yang style logo were designed by Interbrand, the company responsible for creating well-known names like ‘Prozac’, ‘Compaq’, ‘Oneworld’, ‘Imation’, and more.
We, the founders of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (now known as the Wi-Fi Alliance), hired Interbrand to create a brand and logo to emphasize interoperability and promote the technology. We needed something more accessible than the term ‘IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence’.
The only reason you hear the term ‘Wireless Fidelity’ is because some colleagues felt unsatisfied. They did not understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name ‘Wi-Fi’ without some clear explanation. Therefore, we agreed to add the phrase ‘short for Wireless Fidelity’ after the name. This was a mistake and only confused people, diluting the brand. Later, as Wi-Fi became more successful and attracted members from larger businesses to the board, the association accepted this ‘extended phrase’.
Thus, Wireless Fidelity was created after we had selected from 10 different terms proposed by Interbrand. And it means nothing. It was merely a clumsy attempt to find two words that fit with Wi and Fi.”
T.N
