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.