• Available at on- and offline Apple stores in Australia now
• New Zealand consumers and businesses can order from www.apple.com/nz/
• Enables you to control light wirelessly, create and personalise light with an app on your smartphone or device

May 20, 2013 Sydney, Australia/New Zealand – From today, Australian/New Zealand consumers can experience the world’s smartest web-enabled LED home lighting system. Philips hue signals a new era in home lighting both in the way we think about and experience light in our homes. It allows you to create and control the light using your smartphone or tablet.

Philips hue can be set up in minutes. The intuitive app allows you to remotely control and personalise your home lighting experience with custom settings and program timers to help manage your daily schedules, all through the convenience of a smart device.  An intuitive and seamless system, Philips hue is upgradeable and future-proof, with the potential for more features to be downloaded in the future.

Bringing endless possibilities to help you get creative and personalise lighting to suit your lifestyle, a starter pack includes three bulbs that simply screw into your existing lamps, and a bridge that you plug into your home Wi-Fi router.  Simply download the hue app to start experiencing light in a completely new way.

"Philips hue is a game-changer in lighting. The intuitive hue application introduces a completely new way of interacting with and experiencing light. In the way phones, media and entertainment have been revolutionised by digital technology, now we can also personalise light and enjoy limitless applications," said Michael Downie, General Manager of Philips Lighting ANZ. "Philips continues to be the global leader in LED technology, providing innovative and unique solutions for home lighting. Hue takes it one step further by providing great energy-efficient LED light quality that is integrated with the latest technology, helping to further simplify and enhance our lives."

The app for Philips' hue features expert LightRecipes:  four pre-programmed lighting settings based on Philips' research around the biological effects that lighting has on the body. These scenarios adjust bulbs to the optimum shade and brightness of white light to help you relax, read, concentrate or energise.

Philips has opened up the hue app to the developer community and has created an open source platform at www.philips-hue.com inviting developers to explore the app and unleash even more possibilities to show what light can do to enhance your life. You can share light scenes or get inspired on the meethue.com community site. Philips hue uses the open ZigBee Light Link standard so that it can be integrated with other ZigBee certified systems.

Philips also announced the next phase of its connected lighting journey and upgrades Philips Hue making it even smarter.

Now connected light can keep you up-to-date

The next generation of the Hue app (version 1.1) can now hook up to your essential internet services via your smartphone or device, meaning your bulbs can act as indicators for weather, stock quotes, sports scores, email, social media and more. They can be set to behave in any way you choose. For example, to change color if it's going to rain; to blink if you receive an urgent email, Facebook message from someone special; illuminate gradually as the sun sets; or even flash in your sports team's colors when they score. This is made possible through internet automating service, IFTTT (If This Then That), meaning your home lighting can now connect to the world in innumerable, exciting new ways.

New location-based lighting to welcome you home

App v1.1 is the first upgrade to Hue's future-proof system and will be delivered to existing users via a simple-to-download software update. Its new 'geofencing' feature means your smartphone or tablet can detect when you or your family are approaching or leaving home and trigger Hue’s bulbs to turn on/off automatically, change color or light setting – all without having to even take your phone out of your pocket.

Intuitively enhancing your lifestyle

The recurring schedules feature means you can programme Hue to enhance your family's daily routine and create settings for activities such as waking up, homework or bedtime - without the need to reset each day. If you go on holiday, the timer function can be set to turn lights on and off at random times while you’re away to give you peace of mind.

Light with limitless potential

Developers are also excited about the possibilities to extend Hue's capabilities with new applications and integration with other products and services. Since Philips published Hue’s open APIs and software developers' kit (developers.meethue.com) on 11th March, over thirty new apps have already hit the market. Some of these allow Hue's smart bulbs to coordinate with music and album art, visualize your heart rate for home workouts, assist in planetary study, respond to spoken commands, and synchronize with television screens for an ambient, immersive viewing experience.

A smart solution for a smarter home

Using the ZigBee LightLink standard, Hue bulbs can not only communicate with each other, they have the potential for communicating with other ZigBee-based devices such as motion sensors and home thermostats, while offering a broad signal range and using significantly less stand-by power than traditional Wi-Fi systems.  Additional apps developed for Hue are available through app stores or meetHue.com, allowing users new ways to further enhance their lighting experiences and lives. Further innovations such as new Hue bulb types are also due to be announced later this year.

Philips hue is now available from Apple stores in Australia and Apple.com.au for AU$249.95. In New Zealand, Philips hue is now available for purchase online via the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com/nz) for NZ$279.

Product information:

The Philips hue introduction pack includes:

• 3 hue light bulbs of 600 lumen (40Watt equivalent)
• Each hue light bulb covers all shades of white, from warm white light to cool white light, and a wide variety of colours. Each hue light bulb uses 80% less power than a traditional light bulb.