Despite formal confirmation that shipping for the IKEA smart blinds smart blinds Kadrilj and the Fyrtur would start in February 2019 for Europe and the 1st April in the US, the company has now pushed the availability to mid-summer 2019.

Update – Launch in Europe in August and US in October. More information here

I was looking forward to reviewing the Smart blinds and I am sure this news comes as a big disappointment too many gives that the official launch date was only days away and still being listed on the German IKEA site.

Just to refresh those not keeping up with the story on the IKEA smart blinds, the company plans to launch 2 new smart blinds that support HomeKit, Alexa and Google home along with the Tradfri app and gateway.

The smart blinds will come in 2 variants with the Kadrilj being a traditional blind that lets light through and the Fyrtur that is a blackout blind. The blinds start at a low 99 euro which is aggressive pricing giving others cost anywhere from 300 to 600 euro.

Why are the IKEA smart blinds delayed

After I followed up with IKEA PR team, they confirmed that the delay was because of a supply issue and not anything to do with HomeKit.

The key takeaway from the way IKEA has handled the delay along with the recent Smart plug HomeKit issue shows that IKEA is still playing at being a smart home company.

Whilst they can delay flat pack with no one batting an eye, IKEA needs to get stronger with PR and marketing with Smart home products as the customer segment is a different beast and will not be forgiving and this could hurt their chances of being a real player in this space.

As always, keep checking back for the latest information on the IKEA smart blinds availability and subscribe to the mailing list to receive up-to-date info