Today’s smart home market is anything but simple—it’s very fragmented with no clear platform winner. GE wants to make it easy for consumers to use smart LED lighting, while ensuring interoperability and a positive user experience. GE today announced its first connected LEDs designed for sleep and everyday illumination—called C by GE—that can be controlled without using a smart hub.

GE launches its first smart LED bulbs online.  (All Photo Courtesy of GE Lighting)

“GE wants to simplify the customer experience for smart home technology—both through how customers use the smart bulbs and how they learn about it at CbyGE.com,” says Linda Boff, GE’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Simple-to-use lighting can be your first experiment in the smart home. We chose Bluetooth^® as the platform—a technology many users already know and trust—combined with GE’s quality of light that consumers trust.”

While the market for smart home products is still young, GE recognizes that consumers need faster, easier ways to learn about and access innovative smart home products, so GE Lighting is also launching its first e-commerce business, www.CbyGE.com, which will sell C by GE performance bulbs directly to consumers.  With doorstep service, GE aims to simplify the shopping experience and educate those who are new to smart lighting technology.

The connected LED bulb lets user tune and control via app.

The C by GE portfolio features two new connected products, C Sleep and C Life, and these smart bulbs:

• Deliver Intelligent Illumination: C by GE smart LED bulbs take lighting beyond basic illumination with new features designed for sleep circadian rhythms. C Sleep, a bulb with three distinct settings, creates the perfect bedroom light—warm and calm at night, and crisp and vibrant in the morning. Having studied the science of light and how it impacts our lives, GE’s C Sleep provides warm, calm light to prepare you for sleep, increasing your body's production of melatonin.  And in the morning, C Sleep provides cool, vibrant light, reduces your body's production of melatonin, helping you feel energized and awake. C Sleep retails for under $25 at CbyGE.com

• Deliver Simplicity & Control: Both C Sleep and C Life use Bluetooth-enabled technology—no additional connections, equipment or hubs required. C Life, an affordable, everyday connected LED bulb gives consumers an easy way to light their intelligent home, creating optimal light at every moment, whether you’re cooking, working to just hanging out. C Life retails for under $15 at CbyGE.com

• Deliver Customized User Experience & Interoperability: To optimize the user experience, GE is developing its own app with light scenes and application recommendations. And, these bulbs are compatible with the existing Wink platform, so consumers can program C by GE to interact with other smart devices throughout the home.    

C by GE LED bulbs provide the same quality of light consumers expect from America’s most trusted lighting brand, and they last 20 years, based on 3 hours of operation per day. To fully bring C by GE to homes, these bulbs will be available online in a Starter Pack, including two C Life and two C Sleep bulbs, which retails for $49.97 at www.CbyGE.com starting early 2016.