Published 28 March 2017 • Inter IKEA newsroom
IKEA launches its first digital home furnishing product
IKEA is taking the next step in the smart home by releasing its first completely digital home furnishing product. The TRÅDFRI app lets people control lighting through their phone or tablet. The app is part of the smart lighting collection which includes solutions for dimming, switching from warm to cold light, remote steering and personalisation of light.
Smart lighting enables people to adapt their lighting to the activity they are doing and to create atmosphere. The technology has been around for some years, but has not yet been adopted by the many people. Through home visits and customer surveys, IKEA identified two key challenges to solve in order to enable smart lighting for the many: “Our research told us that the existing technology was perceived as being too expensive and difficult to understand. With this in mind, we set out to make our smart lighting solutions easy to use and affordable,” says Björn Block, Business Leader for IKEA Home Smart.
Since October 2016, IKEA has been piloting a selection of smart lighting products on four markets, e.g. LED bulbs, lighting panels and doors. March 31st, all smart lighting products will become available in all stores in Europe and North America, including a couple of new products such as wireless dimmers, a motion sensor and a gateway and app.
IKEA Smart Lighting is a plug and play solution, meaning there is no need for hardwiring or hiring an electrician. All it takes is replacing a light bulb with a TRÅDFRI LED bulb. By using the gateway and TRÅDFRI app, people can design their lighting trough dimming, switching from warm to cold light in three steps and setting lights for different moods. “With the app you can, for instance, choose a light for early mornings, another for late evenings and a third for cooking or working at home. Just as with our other smart lighting products, we’ve strived to make the app as simple and easy to use as possible,” says Björn Block.
Smart lighting is IKEAs second step in IKEA Home Smart, which started with the launch of wireless charging products for mobile phones 2015. IKEA sees a great potential in the smart home business. In the years to come, there will be additional launches, enabling people to build onto their smart home solution. “IKEA Home Smart is not about making gadgets. It’s about adding functionality to our entire product range by integrating technology into our home furnishing offer,” says Jeanette Skjelmose, Business Area Manager for Lighting and IKEA Home Smart.
The Smart Lighting collection includes: TRÅDFRI LED bulbs and remote control, TRÅDFRI gateway kit and app, TRÅDFRI motion sensor kit, several dimming kits, FLOALT LED light panels and SURTE and JORMLIEN LED light doors for BESTÅ cabinets and METOD kitchen cabinets.