Interview: why adding inexpensive WiFi lights to the Innr zigbee smart lighting range?

More and more affordable products are penetrating the market dominance of premium suppliers like Philips Hue and Innr. This increases price pressure on the European market and flattens market entry barriers.

Some of the users are content with the basic functions of smart light. Basic functions are already provided by lamps with a WiFi module. The advantages are obvious: users do not need any Zigbee bridges and therefore smart, inexpensive solutions appeal to bargain hunters and people with a controllable light requirement of less than 10 lamps.

Q: The announcement of Innr’s WiFi products comes as a surprise to outsiders. Since when has the plan existed to offer more or less in-house competition and which target group does Innr have in focus?

Our market research shows that most buyers of Zigbee lamps use them in combination with a Philips Hue system. So they expand their existing system. But we also see that there is a growing group of consumers who do not yet have smart lighting. They are interested in smart lighting, but do not immediately want to invest in an expensive Hue system. This is therefore a different target group, which is also more price sensitive. These consumers prefer to buy a few affordable WiFi lamps first, for which they do not need a bridge. This way, they can try to find out how smart lighting works for them, without any effort. Innr would like to be able to serve this second target group with a solution.

Q: Innr is a constant in technology-oriented markets such as Germany. Isn’t this position endangered by the fact that you are also entering the low-budget segment and thus technically downgraded? Will Zigbee technology remain a fixture?

Indeed, we see in Germany that Zigbee is the dominant system. We also expect it to remain that way. Because users who plan to install a lot of smart lighting are always best off with Zigbee. Innr’s product range will therefore always continue to emphasize Zigbee. We now offer an opportunity to enter the world of smart lighting even more easily for new users.

Q: Are the new WiFi products comparable to the Zigbee line in terms of hardware quality? Do you only differ in the modules used?

The Innr Zigbee lights don’t just have another wireless module. They also have better lighting specifications than the Innr WiFi lamps. They can more beautiful display different grades of white and the intensity of the colours is even better than with WiFi.

Q: Will today’s products be available in both flavours? That means: are E27, E14 and GU10 light sources in white and RGB versions planned?

We will start with two types of E27 bulbs (White and White & Colour). In the near future we will also offer E14 and GU10 colour lamps in our WiFi range. We keep the range a bit more limited than in Zigbee, because our advice remains that users with a large lighting system are best advised to choose Zigbee.

Q: What general improvements can I expect with a new Innr app? For example, are lighting effects planned?

Naturally, we have also built in new light effects in our new app. Think of a wake-up function where you wake up comfortably with the light of a sunrise. First warm red, then increasingly whiter and brighter. But we also have some fun light effects, such as the effect of a fireplace.

But more importantly, the app is now much more focused on making the comfort of smart lighting as simple as possible. So that you have the perfect light in your home all day long. For example with automations, scenes and routines for getting up, working, relaxing and sleeping. But also with a complete program that automatically activates those routines. You can easily adjust that program to your daily routine with a few clicks. Since many people are expected to work from home, is this more relevant than ever

Q: How will the European market shares be split this year with regard to Zigbee and WiFi basis? What distribution do you expect in the next two years?

Our data shows that Germany is a real Zigbee country. This standard has an 80% market share in Germany. But in the UK, WiFi now makes up 50% of the market. Also in the USA we see that WiFi is now bigger than Zigbee.

We expect that WiFi will initially grow even further, because many affordable entry-level products work on WiFi. But if consumers want to provide their entire home with smart lighting, they will end up with Zigbee products again. That is why we expect that the market for the better smart bulbs, smart luminaires and smart switches will also continue to grow, and that products in that segment will mainly work on the basis of Zigbee.