The emerging specification, in the early stages of development at a newly formed task group, is intended to help developers write software for core uses of Wi-Fi Direct such as printing and file transfer. The Alliance's executive director the work in an interview last week with IDG News Service.

Wi-Fi Direct was introduced in 2010 and is available in more than 1,100 certified products, according to Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. The technology allows Wi-Fi devices to communicate peer to peer without having to set up a LAN or go through an access point. The includes laptops, smartphones, TVs, printers and other devices.

However, there aren't enough implementations designed for use between products from different vendors, said Davis-Felner.

"What we're seeing is that member companies are using it for ... proprietary solutions," Davis-Felner said. "They're enabling things that work from a single vendor's handset to a television, or a single vendor's set-top box to a television."

That essentially defeats the purpose of having a standard, which typically is to make a lot of new products from different vendors more attractive because they can work together.