With GE laser-focused on playing a large role in the future of smart homes, Digital Trends caught up with Jeff Patton, GE Lighting’s general manager for connected home products, at CES to get some insight on the company’s upcoming products and innovations.
Patton touched on a number of GE innovations in the smart home field during his visit to the DT booth, but went into great detail about the Alexa voice integration aspect of the recently released C by GE Sol light.
“[The Sol is] the first lighting product to have Alexa voice assistant embedded,” Patton told Digital Trends. “With the voice assistant embedded in the base of it, the [Sol] is an all-in-one-product. It’s a combination of your table lamp, clock, radio — it’s all built into one.”
The voice integration of Alexa is a big aspect of GE smart home products moving forward. Alexa, however, isn’t GE’s only choice for voice integration, as the company is also utilizing Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit.
“Consumers want choice,” Patton told Digital Trends. “Our goal is to give people what they want. We are going to give them this incredibly valuable product and functionality, and depending on whatever voice platform they want to be on, we are going to make that available to them.”
Patton also briefly touched on how GE’s smart light bulbs are a cost-effective and accessible way for people to embrace smart home technology. He also highlighted how lighting affects sleep patterns and one’s overall health. According to Patton, these types of quality of life aspects are what GE Lighting is focusing on improving with its products.
“We need to spend more time investing in the quality of our sleep,” Patton told Digital Trends. “Because it affects the quality of our lives.”
