Philips Hue: The smart home’s light bulb moment
Summary
Host David Pierce and guests Jen Tui and Richard Gunther explore the history of Philips Hue, tracing its origins from early smart home tech like X10 to the rise of LEDs. They discuss how Philips engineers pivoted from hardware remotes to smartphone control, creating the first commercially available color-changing smart bulbs. The episode covers the product’s 2012 launch in Apple Stores, its high initial price, and its strategic decision to open its API, which helped define the modern smart home ecosystem.
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