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The term “Web 2.0” has come to represent the current and next generation of web sites and web applications like Wikipedia, Craig’s List, blogging, and Google’s personalized homepage. In O’Reilly’s article “What Is Web 2.0,” he notes that there is a variety of disagreement about what this term actually means, with some trivializing it to the next buzzword and others adopting it as “conventional wisdom.” While there is plenty of room for discussion, the overarching point is that the nature of websites has evolved, from static to dynamic content, from one-way readership to interactive and collaborative editorialization and personalization.

Although not an apples to apples comparison, the nature of WiFi has seen a profound shift since its first adoption too. Whereas WiFi 1.0 was characterized by:

   * Single location, short range
   * Non revenue generating or manual methods of revenue collection
   * Unsecure or WEP
   * No branding
   * No localized content/advertising
   * No gathering of user demographic data 

WiFi 2.0 is characterized by:

   * Multiple locations and/or mesh Splash page portals
   * User revenues and or sponsor-based revenues generated
   * Partial or fully branded by location or provider
   * Location-based content and advertising
   * Survey and other tools to gather intelligence about users

A detailed whitepaper on this subject was published in August 2006, authored by Joshua Beil, former IDC analyst and co-founder of Skywave Broadband, a Hawaii-based WiFi service provider:

• http://www.bbwexchange.com/publications/page1423-228167.asp
• http://www.80211anews.com/publications/page1293-228167.asp
• http://www.80211bnews.com/pubs/2006/09/20/page1271-228167.asp
• http://www.80211info.com/pubs/2006/09/20/page1271-228167.asp
• http://www.80216news.com/publications/page1299-228167.asp
• http://www.spectrumresellers.com/pubs/2006/09/20/page1271-228167.asp

The San Francisco based company JiWire is using the term WiFi 2.0 to incorporate the advertising component of a Hotspot (Wi-Fi) and it is facilitating advertising opportunities between advertisers and WiFi service providers.