Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced that it has expanded its collaboration with Amazon to create an easy way to start with a voice-controlled smart home. While supplies last, customers who purchase an Echo Plus will receive a Philips Hue white connected light bulb, which can be controlled using your voice and Alexa.

Philips Hue may be switched on and off, dimmed and brightened using voice commands, thanks to the integration with Echo Plus, which offers a built-in smart home hub for simple setup and control of Philips Hue lights and other ZigBee, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled devices.

Echo Plus makes connecting to compatible smart home devices easy: just plug it in, complete setup using the Amazon Alexa app, screw the Philips Hue white bulb into an existing light fitting and say, «Alexa, discover my devices.» The Philips Hue white bulb is automatically detected and ready for you to control: just ask Alexa. With Echo Plus, you can voice-control lighting across your entire home by adding more Philips Hue light bulbs and strips to the initial set up.

«We welcome initiatives to help people get started with their smart home,» said Sridhar Kumaraswamy, Business Leader Home Systems, Philips Lighting. «Connected lighting is a simple but powerful way to transform any space in the home, and voice command is an intuitive way to control it. Offering the two together makes it easier than ever before to switch on to smarter living.»

«We want to make it simple for customers to set up and control devices in their home with Alexa,» said Daniel Rausch, Vice President, Amazon Smart Home. «With a built-in hub, Echo Plus quickly connects to a range of devices, including Philips Hue lights, helping customers set up their smart home in minutes. Echo Plus is the easiest way to start a smart home.»

Adding the Philips Hue bridge with its operating system, will unlock richer lighting experiences and add more ways to control your lighting, such as smart switches, sensors and over 700 third-party apps to play with. By adding a bridge, you can produce the perfect ambiance for any time of day and support your wellbeing; waking up naturally in the morning or winding down in the evening with the right light. The bridge enables regular over the air updates to keep your system secure and with the latest features, for instance the recently announced Philips Hue Entertainment software update, that will be available in December. This free update will allow you to immerse yourself totally in your music, movies and gaming with ‘surround sound for the eyes’ – perfectly syncing your lighting to enrich any home entertainment experience.

Echo Plus is available for pre-order starting today and will start shipping next month in the US, UK and Germany.