Roger Fingas
Philips is preparing to launch a device called the Hue Bridge, apprarently designed to link current Hue products with Apple's HomeKit platform, according to a now-deleted store page from a Dutch lighting retailer.
The device is roughly the same size and shape as an Apple TV, but all in white and with three LEDs on top, iCulture reported. Little else is known, but the lighting vendor, meerdanlicht.nl, listed the device for 60 euros or just under $67.
HomeKit is an iOS- and Apple TV-centric home automation platform, allowing people to group devices together and control them via apps or Siri voice commands. Only a relative trickle of HomeKit accessories have made it to market though, owing to the intense encryption requirements imposed by Apple.
Philips' official launch of the Hue Bridge may be waiting until after next week's Apple press event, where one of the centerpieces should be a fourth-generation Apple TV with Siri support. Indeed Siri is a major theme of the event, and Apple could conceivably be planning to greatly expand the technology, for instance enabling HomeKit control using only an Apple TV.
The third-generation Apple TV does have some HomeKit functionality, but only in enabling remote access to accessories instead of having to be nearby with an iOS device.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
9 Comments
There already is and has been from the beginning a Hue Bridge. It's what controls the Hue lights. Maybe the next generation will have more functionality but it's not something new.
Good news for the few, like myself, whom spent hundreds on outfitting their homes with the expensive Hue bulbs. Ever since I was gifted the started kit (3 bulbs and a hub) I've been collecting all the various bulb models till my house is saturated and my wallet depleted. It's easy to think I'm mad, but once you get the chance to live in an environment where lighting has a dramatic impact on your state of mind, you'll be quick to open your wallet too and collect them like baseball cards. Glad they won't be obsolete to Apples new HomeKit ecosystem.
Their existing device is called the Bridge. This would then be a Bridge update, not a new product called the Bridge.
So what happens to all the R&D on this product if the new Apple TV does what this thing is supposed to do? Years ago.
why need hue bridge now? can %uF8FFtv be one instead since they are holding hands now? one less plug and RJ45 port in ever-cable-clusteded, dust collecting mess! just my 2 cents..