TikTok's ByteDance Launches First Gadget for Education

ByteDance introduced its inaugural consumer hardware offering on Thursday: a smart light featuring an integrated display, positioned as an addition to its growing suite of educational technologies as the prominent Chinese internet company diversifies its business beyond its core social video platforms.

The Dali smart lamp incorporates a display screen, a camera, and an embedded digital assistant. Priced starting at $119, the Dali smart lamp – named after the Chinese word for ‘big’ – is designed for students to assist them with completing school assignments, according to ByteDance’s announcement during a press event. The integrated camera allows parents to provide remote tutoring and monitor their children through a dedicated mobile application.

This smart lamp has the potential to resonate well within China, where many parents, similar to those in other regions, find it difficult to effectively balance work commitments with quality time and engagement with their children.

Zhou Kang, the founder of Czur, a Chinese firm specializing in connected devices – including smart lamps that compete with ByteDance’s offering – explained to TechCrunch that the development of smart devices targeted at children remains largely an exploratory phase for companies. “Consumer preferences regarding software and content will ultimately emerge. Generating demand for software solely through hardware sales will present a significant hurdle. However, [ByteDance’s initiative] provides parents with a wider range of choices.”

ByteDance stated that the smart lamp represents a key component of its broader expansion into the education sector, now formally branded as Dali Education (Dali translating to ‘big force’ in Chinese). The Chinese technology leader, best known as the owner of the globally popular short-video platform TikTok, initially entered the education market several years ago.

Currently, the company operates a variety of educational services, including GoGoKid, which provides English lessons to children, and Qingbei, which aims to recreate a traditional classroom setting. These services, alongside Guagua Long and Open Language, are now unified under the Dali Education brand.

In the previous year, TikTok also broadened its educational resources in India, a market that was, until the app’s ban by New Delhi in late June, its largest outside of China.

The company reports that over 10,000 employees are currently dedicated to its education division. There has been no indication yet whether ByteDance intends to release the Dali smart lamp beyond the Chinese market.

Rita Liao contributed to this report.