Latest news with #DavidGranath
Engadget
09-07-2025
- Business
- Engadget
IKEA goes all in on Matter with new smart home products
IKEA continues its push into the smart home category with a new line of Matter -compatible products, set to launch in January. The ready-to-assemble furniture conglomerate has been testing the waters with smart home products for a while now , but this is its largest release in the space yet. Beyond stating consumers could expect 20 new products running the open source Matter standard, zero specifics were provided on which items will launch next year. "Bringing Matter to our products means we are taking a big step in the right direction, offering compatibility across brands, and lowering the threshold for people to get started," said David Granath, range manager at IKEA. In the meantime, IKEA is teasing two new Bluetooth speakers that will launch later this year. An affordable speaker designed to look like an old radio will launch in July under the name NATTBAD, and a table speaker named BLOMPRAKT with atmospheric lighting is coming in October. Technical details are sparse, but the announcement describes support for features like multi-speaker setup and Spotify Tap. This would mark the first introduction of new speakers from IKEA since the company ended its partnership with Sonos earlier this summer. IKEA says more updates about the new range of smart home products will come ahead of the January launch. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
The Verge
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Thread count: Ikea is stitching together a smarter home
Ikea is relaunching its smart home line in a move that will make its low-cost products work with other brands, with or without Ikea's own hub. Starting in January, the Swedish furniture giant will release more than 20 new Matter-over-Thread smart lights, sensors, and remotes with 'more new product types and form factors to come,' David Granath of Ikea of Sweden, tells The Verge in an exclusive interview. Ikea is also rebooting its audio offerings as it seeks to fill the Sonos Symfonisk-shaped hole on its shelves. The first two models in the new line of inexpensive, easy-to-use Bluetooth speakers for the home are the $50 retro-style Nattbad and a speaker-slash-table-lamp, the Blomprakt, coming in October, with many more on the way. These new products are part of the company's ongoing effort to make its smart home as simple and affordable for as many people as possible. 'A couple of years ago, we made some strategic decisions about how to move on with the smart range and the speaker range and make an impact in an Ikea way for the many people,' says Granath. He points to the company's learnings from working with Zigbee and Sonos over the last few years, as well as its involvement in founding and developing the new smart home standard, Matter. 'We feel we've reached that point. There's a lot coming, but this is all the first step, getting things in place.' Last week Ikea released an update, currently in beta, to its Dirigera smart home hub that turns the hub into a Matter Controller and activates its long-dormant Thread radio, making it a Thread border router. This means it can now connect to and control any compatible Matter device, including those from other brands, alongside Ikea's new Matter line (which will eventually replace its existing Zigbee devices, says Granath). It's a major step toward a more open, plug-and-play smart home. Initially, Dirigera will only support Matter device types that Ikea currently offers — so, no robot vacuums, door locks, or fridges. However, Granath says that as they launch more smart home products, the hub will be updated to support more device types. The Dirigera hub already functions as a Matter Bridge, enabling Zigbee-based Ikea devices to connect to larger Matter ecosystems like Apple Home and Amazon Alexa. With the update, it now supports Matter 1.4 and Thread 1.4, enabling energy monitoring and the ability to join an existing Thread network, among other features. While the full rollout is expected later this year, the beta is live now through Ikea's Home Smart app, but some features will be limited, says Granath. Matter unlocks interoperability, ease of use, and affordability for us We don't have a lot of details on the over 20 new devices coming next year, but Granath confirmed that they are replacing existing functions. So, new smart bulbs, plugs, sensors, remotes, and air-quality devices, including temperature and humidity monitors. They will also come with a new design. Although 'not necessarily what's been leaked,' says Granath, referring to images of the Bilresa Dual Button that appeared earlier this year. He did confirm that there will be some new product categories arriving in January, with more to follow in April and beyond, including potentially Matter-over-Wi-Fi products. Pricing will be comparable to or lower than that of previous products. 'Affordability remains a key priority for us.' 'The premium to make a product smart is not that high anymore, so you can expect new product types and form factors coming,' he says. 'Matter unlocks interoperability, ease of use, and affordability for us. The standardization process means more companies are sharing the workload of developing for this.' Despite the move away from Zigbee, Ikea is keeping Zigbee's Touchlink functionality. This point-to-point protocol allows devices to be paired directly to each other and work together out of the box, without an app or hub — such as the bulb and remote bundles Ikea sells. This means older Zigbee remotes can control the newer Thread bulbs and vice versa, retaining backward compatibility with its Tradfri line. 'Touchlink and Matter will coexist in new products,' says Granath. 'It's still very important for Ikea — not everyone wants an app or hub.' Interestingly, Ikea's new Matter-over-Thread products will also work without the Ikea hub or app, as they can be set up directly in any compatible Matter smart home ecosystem, such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant, and others. Ikea's move toward full adoption of Matter positions it to be a more open platform, which should help with its efforts to make the smart home easier and more affordable. It's also a significant shift for the industry. Granath says Ikea's goal is for customers to get the best value from their products — it doesn't matter whether that's with Apple Home, with their hub, or without any hub. This is why the company is embracing Matter's open approach. 'We want to remove barriers to complexity, we want it to be simple to use, and we just want it to work,' he says. 'If you want the most user-friendly system, choose ours. But if you're an Apple user, take our bulb and onboard it to your Apple Home.' This reboot positions Ikea as one of the first major retailers to bring Matter to the mainstream market This reboot positions Ikea as one of the first major retailers to bring Matter to the mainstream market, a potentially risky move as Matter has struggled with fragmentation, slow adoption, and other issues since its launch. But Granath is confident that it's the right move. 'Ikea is a good catalyst for the mass market, as we're not aiming for the techy people; we can make it affordable and easy enough for the many people.' So far, Ikea has taken a slow and steady approach to the technology, waiting for some of the kinks to be ironed out before unleashing it on Ikea customers who expect things to be simple and to just work. 'We don't want people to have a bad experience — it's been about timing. We've been waiting to find the balance of potential and user experience,' says Granath. For Ikea, that time is here, and Granath says the team has done a lot of work to get the tech ready. But while Matter has undergone significant improvements recently, it's yet to be fully proven in the mainstream. Is it really ready for such a big splash, I ask? 'We definitely hope so,' says Granath. Matter is a smart home interoperability standard designed to provide a common language for connected devices to communicate locally in your home without relying on a cloud connection. It is built to be secure and private, easy to set up, and widely compatible. Developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and others, Matter is an open-sourced, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Thread. Thread is a low-power, wireless mesh protocol. It operates on the same 2.4GHz spectrum as Zigbee and is designed for low-power devices, such as sensors, light bulbs, plugs, and shades. IP-based, Thread devices can communicate directly with each other, the internet, and with other networks using a Thread Border Router. Today, Matter supports most of the main device types in the home, including lighting, thermostats, locks, robot vacuums, refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers, ovens, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, EV chargers, and more. A smart home gadget with the Matter logo can be set up and used with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller and controlled by more than one ecosystem with a feature called multi-admin. Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Apple Home, Home Assistant, Ikea, and Aqara are among the well-known smart home companies supporting Matter, along with hundreds of device manufacturers.
The Verge
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Ikea's latest speaker lamp ditches Sonos for Spotify and inexpensive Bluetooth
Bluetooth and quick-to-music features like Spotify Tap are the future of sound at Ikea now that the Sonos partnership has fizzled. It's an approach that Ikea's David Granath says will make sound more affordable and easier to use for more people. 'Our aim is to make sound accessible, functional, and enjoyable — without adding complexity,' said Granath, Ikea Range Manager for lighting and home electronics. 'That's what sets us apart, and that's what we'll keep building on as we shape the next chapter of what sound can be in the home.' The revised strategy was announced alongside Ikea's plan to go all in on the Matter smart home protocol, accompanied by a new Blomprakt Bluetooth speaker with an integrated LED light bulb. The speaker lamp is scheduled to arrive on Big Blue shelves in October for a price that should be less than €100 (under $120). It joins the colorful $49.99 Nattbad Bluetooth speaker announced last month. Both cost much less than the Ikea x Sonos offerings: the $179.99 Symfonisk Wi-Fi bookshelf speaker currently sells for almost double the price it debuted at in 2019, while the speaker lamps start at $269.99. Both of the new Bluetooth speakers feature the dedicated Spotify Tap button that first appeared on Ikea's $89.99 Vappeby outdoor Bluetooth speaker lamp back in 2022 (and is still available to buy). Give that button a press to start playing Spotify from where you left off, or press it again to play another track tailored to your interests. Ikea tells me that the feature requires a Spotify account, but it doesn't require a paid subscription tier. Ikea's new speakers also leverage Bluetooth 5.3 to offer a multi-speaker setup. That means you can drop a few speakers into a room and quickly pair them together with a button tap. The sound will be mono, without stereo separation or multi-channel home theater audio, but it'll surely fill the room. The speakers can also be shared between two simultaneously connected devices. When asked about the dissolution of the Sonos partnership announced in May, Granath told The Verge that it ended without drama. 'We had achieved what we set out to do and we both had our strategies and plans going forward. It wasn't more dramatic than that.' But reading between the lines, the price and comparable complexity of those Symfonisk products seemed to factor into the decision. 'When you have to sell a speaker for over €200, you exclude a lot of people,' said Granath. 'In January, we'll probably have up to ten speakers coming in one go.' At least some of those will the be the result of an ongoing partnership with designer Tekla Evelina Severin — aka, Teklan. All the new Bluetooth speakers are expected to cost less than €100, according to Granath, in support of Ikea's strategy to serve 'the many people.' Importantly, Ikea says it learned a lot from its eight-year Sonos partnership, including lessons in product development and supply chain. Now Granath says he's focused on applying those lessons to reach more people with its own-branded speakers, make them easier to use and more affordable, and 'trying a lot of new ways of fitting into home furnishing.' To illustrate that point, Granath showed The Verge an unannounced battery-powered Bluetooth speaker with a flat circular design. It hovers on a stand above a small tray that looks like it could be used for keys, wallet, and a phone, or even some mixed nuts if you prefer. It's these types of dual-use smart home integrations — speakers inside lamps and shelves, air purifiers and wireless chargers built into tables — that I particularly enjoy from Ikea. For the many people willing to pay for higher-quality whole-home audio over Wi-Fi... well, you'll just have to wait. Ikea is part of the Connectivity Standards Alliance working group that is trying to standardize speakers as a product type within Matter, but that's still a long ways off. When pressed on whether Ikea is doing any in-house R&D on the emerging LegatoXP speaker platform, Granath responded with a smile, 'Let me pass on that.'
