“As the worldwide furniture chain expands its HomeKit range, Ikea could be how Apple finally gets its system into the mainstream — if the devices are good enough,” William Gallagher writes for AppleInsider.
“Ikea has a bigger presence worldwide than it does in the United States —there are 50 stores in the US and another 374 everywhere else. Ikea doesn’t just sell the products, but it makes its own, and a growing number of them are HomeKit-compatible,” Gallagher writes. “In some cases, the Ikea HomeKit range isn’t just cheaper, it can be much cheaper for a system including smart bulbs and power outlets that it changes your buying decision. HomeKit stops being this serious investment and becomes something you can try out first.”
“Ikea’s Tradfri range has various HomeKit bulbs and that’s truly the company’s focus,” Gallagher writes. “They are inexpensive yet solid devices. We were sent a bulb and what’s called a Gateway, Ikea’s equivalent to other systems’ bridges, but we bought the outlets and we are going to buy more.”
Much more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: A $10 HomeKit-enabled outlet that works well. What’s not to like?
If you haven’t tried Apple’s Home app and HomeKit devices, yet, here’s your chance!
Apple and IKEA? I am there!!!! Been waiting to see how Apple would fare and who to go with. For the first time I think I will seriously get started on it. Exciting….
Lets hope you don’t have to go back for missing bits.
What’s not to like? The complicated and lengthy setup procedure, for one.
On the other hand, it appears that Ikea Tradfri bulbs use Zigbee protocol like the Philips Hue, so it is reported elsewhere that they can be intermixed and controlled using either app, or the Xfinity Home app, etc… finally! It’s just not desirable for every company to attempt to make their devices lock you into their brand only — though as we see on MDN, some iOS users don’t seem to mind. Anyway, Ikea offers decent enough products at fair prices. Nice to have choice.
Economics in general on Homekit gadgets are another matter. I am not convinced that the Ikea system drops the price enough to be significant. If one prices out practically any app-controlled room lighting solution from any company, you’ll probably find that it’s cheaper just to leave your old “dumb” LED bulbs permanently on for 3-5 years, YMMV.
If we wanted to save electricity, motion sensor controlled lights make all kinds of sense. Does that mean I really want them tied to the internet? No.