Philips Lighting has added new partners to its Friends of Hue program, including LED lighting manufacturers Access Lighting, Craftmade, ELK and ET2.
The program enables users to control lighting with a button, motion or voice command. Users can control various lighting devices via the Philips Hue app, as well as voice control, geo-fencing and IFTTT.
Existing luminaire partners in the program include Modular and Luceplan. “We plan to continue to expand the Friends of Hue program by offering companies access to the world’s leading connected lighting system for the home that future proofs their great designs,” said Sridhar Kumaraswamy, the business leader of home systems at Philips Lighting, in a statement.
Philips Lighting has kept up with smart lighting development. At CES 2018, the company also announced some major updates.
Firstly, Philips wants lighting to be an assistant in home entertainment with its Philips Hue Entertainment system. By building partnerships with other companies and software developers, Hue light bulbs can synchronize lighting while users play games, watch movies or listen to music.
The collaboration isn’t just about dimming lights while watching movies or playing games – it creates real-time lighting effects, while users play shooting video games, for example. In this case, home lighting won’t be a static element, and will improve home entertainment experiences.
Secondly, the company plans to roll out a newly designed mobile app Hue 3.0 on both iOS and Android platforms, with a better user interface design and a custom color picker that works with Hue’s colorful light bulbs. Customers will see the new app in early second quarter this year.
Lastly, Philips has teased a new line of outdoor products which aim to focus on personalized external lighting at home. The outdoor products will arrive this summer.