GE Offers New Smart Home Controls; Grants Third-Party Access

Appliance maker GE has introduced new products to its smart home family of C for GE products, which is comprised of smart switches, bulbs and dimmer technologies, according to a report by VentureBeat.

A recent Dashbot survey showed that of people who use a smart assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant on a daily basis, about 23 percent use smart devices to control things like lighting in their homes.

The smart home market was valued at $55.65 billion in 2016, and it is expected to reach about $174.2 billion by the year 2025, which is a compound annual growth rate of 13.5 percent from 2017 to 2025, according to a report by MarketWatch.

GE is releasing the new C by GE Three-Wire Smart Switch, along with two hubless dimmers. The hubless products are an industry first, GE said, as they don’t need a main hub to connect with Alexa or Google Assistant, and they can be installed in homes of any age.

The Smart Switches don’t need a neutral wire to work, and they are smaller than previous models. They also have an accessory to help with bulb flickering. The Wire-Free Dimmer attaches to a wall using an adhesive attachment.

All products are expected to hit the market sometime this year.

GE has also upgraded its C by GE mobile app to support the smart home products. The company also said that it plans to integrate the app with partner manufacturers that join the new Works with C by GE program.

“[C]onsumers will see third-party smart products carry this identification, signaling simple integration and compatibility with C by GE products,” the company said in a press release.

A few years ago, GE released C-Sleep, a smart light bulb that is connected to Bluetooth and automatically changes colors throughout the day to match the outdoors. The company later released a family of lights called C-Reach, which allowed for lighting control via a hub. Last year, GE released a new line of colors and switches.