Philips announced today that it will be launching Philips hue, “the world’s smartest LED bulb” exclusively at Apple stores starting on Tuesday. Philips says the hue bulbs provide all “shades of white, from warm white light to cold with light,” as well as a selection of colors and pre-programmed settings.
The bulbs themselves work like any standard light bulb, but they use a bridge plugged into your router to allow you to personalize lighting settings and timers. This of course is not the first app-enabled product for the home to hit Apple Stores. Apple already sold the first and second-generation of the Nest Learning Thermostat.
The lighting system can even use a photo from your iOS device as a color palette, and can save and program settings to activate at pre-set times of day.
Philips says the hue bulbs will use 80 percent less power than traditional bulbs.
Apple Stores will begin on Tuesday to sell a hue starter kit that consists of three 50 Watt hue bulbs and the hue bridge. The kit will sell for $199. Additional individual bulbs can be purchased for $60, and you can add up to 50 bulbs to an existing hue bridge.
Philips has opened up the hue app to the developer community, creating an open source platform at www.meethue.com. Philips says it is inviting developers to explore the app, and develop other apps to “show what light can do to enhance your life.” Philips hue uses the open ZigBee Light Link standard so that it can be integrated with other ZigBee certified systems.
Update: TheNextWeb notes that these new bulbs will actually be exclusive to the Apple Store. Nice!
