After revolutionising the way people connect with each
other, Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) is now moving into the home sphere.
Okay, that does not mean that Apple is starting to
manufacture home appliances.
It has tied up with consumer electronics giant
Philips, which will start selling its Hue light bulbs exclusively in Apple
stores across the country.
Apple's role in this - it provides the application on
its mobile devices that allows customers to control and play with the lights in
their home.
Philips' Hue range of light bulbs, which the company
calls the world's smartest light bulb, is an LED home lighting system that is
web-enabled.
More and more companies are getting into smart
lighting systems that are web-enabled and allow customers to control their
lighting at the click of a button.
Home automation was, so far, outside the price range
of average homeowners as it is generally seen as an expensive proposition.
But companies like Belkin and Nest are changing the
rules of the game and making it more affordable for average consumers.
Andrea Smith, writing in Mashable, said that she had a
lot of fun trying out the Hue system and app for a few days.
"I was able to change the colours of the light
bulbs in different rooms, adjust the brightness level, or turn the lights off
and on with one touch from my iPad."
The app has a system which identifies all the lights
installed in the house. They can be assigned different names by the customers.
A slider on the app allows the homeowner to adjust the intensity of the
lighting.
There are even scenes that customers can chose such as
Sunset, Energise, and Concentrate to suit the mood of the user.
I hope they are not charging very much, Amazon has color changing LED bulbs for about $10 that come with a remote. I do not think computer controlling them will add to the value by much.
ReplyDeleteMore and more organizations are getting into intelligent lighting style techniques that are web-enabled and allow clients to management their lighting style at the mobile.
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