Ikea smart home 2019: Expect a load more affordable gadgets very soon
Ikea’s doubled down on smart home tech, creating a new division bespoke focused on making the house of the future an affordable reality.
The company announced the division’s creation in a blog post promising it will develop and launch a load of new smart home kit in the very near future.
“At Ikea we want to continue to offer products for a better life at home for the many people going forward. In order to do so we need to explore products and solutions beyond conventional home furnishing,” said head of Ikea home smart business unit, Björn Block.
The company didn’t disclose how much money it will pump into the division, but Ikea range and supply manager Peter van der Poel described it as “the biggest new business we are establishing since the introduction of Children’s Ikea.”
The news follows the successful launch of several Ikea smart home gadgets. The company launched its own line of Ikea Tradfri smart bulbs to rival Philips Hue a couple of years ago.
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It then launched a line of new Ikea smart blinds in July this year. Most recently it partnered with Sonos to make and launch the Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker.
All the kit has reviewed consistently well, offering buyers an affordable alternative to more established smart home brands.
As we noted in our Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker review:
“Full Sonos compatibility gives it proper multi-room credentials and it’s also the lowest-priced Sonos speaker ever. Add in the excellent audio quality and the Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker is a real winner.”
We’re super excited at the prospect of more Ikea smart home tech as a result. Sadly the company hasn’t disclosed what smarthome products it’s working on. Bork did say it would be “working together with all other departments within Ikea” to develop a portfolio of “more diverse smart products”.
The company previously hinted it was working on things like smart beds and storage cupboards at the Democratic Design Day expo in June when it unveiled a number of proof of concept robot furniture.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
