We have covered some IKEA products here in the past, notably their Qi chargers and Qi charging-enabled furniture. Now in a move into a slightly different section of the tech market IKEA are introducing their own line of smart light bulbs.
As is IKEA’s tradition, they have named them in their Swedish language TRÅDFRI which Google tells me means “wireless”. The new line includes a gateway (to control the lights individually with an app), a dimming kit, motion sensor, remote control and of course various bulbs.
What makes IKEA’s offering attractive is the price. With individual globes starting at $11.99US it is an ideal way to modernise your house. The starter kit which includes a gateway, a remote control and 2 LED light globes is priced at only $79.99US.
There is both an Android (requires KitKat 4.4 or above) and iOS app but to use the apps you will need to have the TRÅDFRI gateway. The gateway allows you to create groups of light sources and control them in different ways and obviously to use the gateway an internet connection is required. The entire lineup works with ZigBee Light Link which is good as it may mean that it could be incorporated into a smart home system based on the ZigBee protocol. IKEA Australia stated that:
To make it simple for the many to create a better everyday life at home, IKEA will continue the work towards making our smart home products compatible with others in the market.
The IKEA TRÅDFRI line is set to be released in the US and other countries on March 31. IKEA Australia said that the “Smart Lighting will be affordably priced and coming to Australia in early 2018”. For more information you can check out the IKEA press release or the US IKEA website.
Would you consider IKEA smart lighting instead of one of the other offerings around? Hopefully by the time it is released here Google/IKEA have introduced Google Home support and have actually released Google Home here.
I would consider this. However the early 2018 timeline is pretty poor.