GE Is Selling Its Light Bulb Business
GE is selling its lighting division to smart home company Savant Systems. The GE-branded bulb, however, will not go away as the transaction includes a long-term licensing agreement for the name. Savant makes lighting, security, climate and entertainment products such as smart speakers and packages them together for professional home installation.
The NPD Take:
- The C by GE smart light bulbs have struggled to gain market share, stuck between competition from Philips on the high end and limited distribution brands on the low end. It remains to be seen exactly what the retail (and pricing) strategy will be going forward and whether Savant will continue with GE’s current placements or focus more on its network of authorized dealers.
Wyze Will Be Expanding Its Product Line
Budget indoor camera brand Wyze is showing off a new product line including an outdoor camera, a smart doorbell, a thermostat, and a scale; and the company says it has more than 30 “pieces of hardware in the works.” Limited detail was revealed, but the camera should be battery powered, come with a PIR sensor, a base station, and be ready this year. The doorbell is supposed to be wired and become available later this year.
The NPD Take:
- There are not too many budget options out there for these types of smart home products – so certainly the consumer who is a fan of Wyze’s indoor cams will be the first to be fans of the new outdoor option. Those same consumers who don’t yet own smart doorbells or thermostats will probably be tempted by those new products, too. Positive user reviews are going to be key for Wyze to validate its extension into these product areas and to attract consumers who are not already Wyze users.
Giant Smart Displays in a Home Office Near You
According to DIGITIMES, supply chain makers in Taiwan have indicated that Amazon, Google, and Facebook are all accelerating the development of new smart displays with extra-large screens – meant not just for consumer applications, but for remote work applications too. According to the article, mold makers have already developed molds for these new designs, with volume production likely to begin in the first half of 2021. The size of the displays will be as big as 15-20”.
The NPD Take:
- This report is coincidentally timed with a huge uptick in consumers working from home, due to the pandemic, but regardless of whether it was already in the works or not, there are clearly going to be more people working from home moving forward. Exactly what kind of functionality these displays will have to enable “remote applications” and how they are priced, of course, will determine adoption.