As consumer adoption of connected in-home devices augments, GE is increasingly collaborating with partners including Amazon, Google and Apple. According to Juniper Research, smart home automation and monitoring devices will exceed 770 million globally by 2021.
Now GE wants consumers to look up and speak up, literally. It’s expanding the C by GE smart lighting portfolio to include voice control of ceiling light fixtures and wall switches. It’s also adding compatibility with Apple HomeKit starting in the first quarter of 2018, just in time to demonstrate at CES 2018.
See you at #CES2018! https://t.co/EGw4TNr87W
— GE Lighting (@GELighting) January 3, 2018
GE is bringing its bright ideas to the smart home’s virtual assistants, as the C-Life and C-Sleep bulbs, along with the recently released C-Reach bridge, enable control by Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, and will be accessible via Apple Home iPhone or iPad apps.
Smart ceiling fixtures with voice-enabled fixtures can be used for listening to music, carrying out voice-driven tasks or changing light needs in a room. No separate voice device like Amazon Alexa or Google Home is required.
A new smart wall switch can be controlled by speaking with the preferred voice assistant, and no GE hub is required to make it work or act as translator.
“Imagine you have a hard time falling asleep, but also a hard time waking up. Your bedroom is a space for reading before bed and folding clothes, and it’s always cold. Imagine if lighting could optimize that environment and solve for those challenges and needs,” stated Jeff Patton, General Manager Connected Home Products, GE Lighting.
“We will get you there through lighting solutions paired with voice, sensors and other technology that you can use on their own or in combination across the home.”
In addition to C by GE advancements, Sol Lamp Extensions, the industry’s first lighting product to integrate Amazon Alexa has been updated to include turning on Spotify and SiriusXM connectivity and Amazon’s Echo Spatial Perception (ESP) feature, enabling syncing with other Alexa devices throughout the home. Availability now includes Canada.
As CNET notes, “The idea of an invisible, omnipresent assistant hanging out overhead in your living room and listening for your command probably sounds like a step too far for some, but it’s the direction that things seem to be headed, as virtual assistants continue expanding into a growing number of homes.”
Beyond technological innovation, continuing to build a collaborative and inclusive eco-system is a smart move by GE in the burgeoning smart-home market.
CNET continues, “If GE can successfully bring its new lights to market without omitting any of the major voice partners, then they’ll be in a great position to improve as Amazon, Google and Apple keep battling it out to make their respective assistants as smart as possible. No matter who comes out on top, GE stands to benefit.”
The transformed GE’s new boilerplate puts it in the heart of the action at CES and beyond:
GE is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the “GE Store,” through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry.
C-Reach bridge lets you control your @generalelectric smart bulbs with your voice https://t.co/mcsrRHl1nV
— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) January 2, 2018
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