gm! as they say on Twitter! My schedule is a little bit all over the place in this weather, anyway. Let’s dive into what’s happening in the smart home metaverse this past week. And enjoy today’s curated news!
Munich’s Tado Brings Home €43 Million
Since its launch in 2011, Tado has exponentially grown its market share thanks to its consumer-friendly smart thermostats that are ideally designed to offer compatibility with over 95% of European homes. The company is expected to become profitable later this year and is expecting to bring in another cash injection from top investors: Trill Impact Ventures, Bayern Kapital, Kiko Ventures, and Swisscanto.
Over the last year, the sales of Tado smart thermostats doubled, and currently, there are 3 million of them in European homes and businesses. With the help of the new funding, Tado plans to expand the product and make it more energy-efficient by introducing new features. To make this a reality, Tado acquired Austrian startup aWATTar back in January 2022. aWATTar specializes in time-of-use energy management and load shifting.
Additionally, Tado plans to launch a bespoke smart thermostat for rental homes later this year.
SimpliSafe’s New Camera
SimpliSafe is beta testing a new service that allows its agents to see inside your home and talk to intruders during an alarm event. The live guard protection service relies on an AI-powered security camera. Once the camera detects human motion, the alarm system will be triggered and open a live feed for a monitoring agent to see and speak to the potential intruder.
The new service will only work with SimpliSafe’s new Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Security Camera, paired with a SimpliSafe base station and Interactive Monitoring monthly plan. This AI-enabled and battery-powered smart camera also have a PIR motion sensor and a built-in siren.
Currently, there’s no pricing for the smart camera. However, beta participants in the beta testing will be offered the new camera for a discounted price of $49.99.
Philip Hue Smart Lighting Prices Set to Rise
Signify is planning to increase the prices of most of its Philip Hue smart lighting products starting this February. The prices are expected to rise as high as 17%, with the consumers in Europe being the most affected. The first products to face the price increases include Philip Hue ceiling lights, pendant lights, and outdoor lighting.
A Signify spokesperson has explained that the soaring prices are due to the depreciation of the Euro versus the US dollar and the Chinese Yuan. However, the company has confirmed that there are no plans to increase prices in the United States. In addition to smart lighting, the Philips Hue Outdoor Sensor will also face a price increase.
Sonos Brings Alexa Control to 27 More Countries
Sonos is set to expand Alexa voice control for its speakers in 27 more counties. The company has teamed up with Amazon to offer international Sonos users the convenience of Alexa control for music, calendars, shopping lists, and smart home commands. The voice control is available on the Sonos Roam, Move, Arc, Beam, Five, and One. It can be used in different languages, including English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Sonos also has its own voice assistant known as Sonos Voice Control, but it’s not globally available yet. In supported countries, users will be able to choose the voice assistant they prefer between the two.
Smart Home AI-Generated Illustration of the Week!
This is it for today, See you next later this week 😉. If you have colleagues, friends, or neighbors that would benefit from knowing about smart home devices, please consider sharing them. They can sign up for the newsletter by going here.
– Gerard