This piece suggests that the standards battle over ultrawideband technology may allow the next generation of Wi-Fi to handle many functions dreamed of for UWB: The next iteration of Wi-Fi, 802.11n, is also in a standards battle of its own but apparently less contentious than the UWB battle. Products based on 802.11n will have similar throughput as UWB and a longer range but will be more prone to interference. Still, because it will be a future version of 802.11 which is already an entrenched standard it may see rapid adoption and be used for networking home entertainment products--a big market that UWB is after. Following the potential for Bluetooth to loose traction now that Ericsson is pulling back on its Bluetooth efforts, there's a chance that UWB may be primarily used as a cable replacement.
UWB was designed as a very broadband networking technology that doesn't use a designated frequency band. The concept was originally exciting because of its efficient use of spectrum but it's had trouble getting off the ground.
It will be interesting to watch how both 802.11n and UWB progress but there are so many uncertainties at this point that it's hard to predict how they might compete. While 802.11n is based on the existing popular standards, it is expected to require hardware upgrades so it will take time to infiltrate the market.