Ondrej Holzman Google just announced the acquisition of Nest Labs. They will pay 3,2 billion dollars, or roughly 64 billion crowns, for the manufacturer of smart thermostats and fire detectors. However, Nest Labs should continue to operate independently under the leadership of its chief executive Tony Fadell, a one-time Apple point man.
At Nest, they focus on the development of not very (media) popular, but nevertheless important devices such as thermostats whether fire detectors. The signature of Tony Fadell, the boss of Nest, and his other former colleagues from Apple, who breathed a modern look and functionality into a device widely used in households, even though it had been neglected in terms of development for many years, was clearly visible on Nest products.
“Nest's founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have created an amazing team that we are very excited to welcome to our Google family. They already offer great products - thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO detectors that protect our families. We're going to bring these great products to more homes and more countries," Google CEO Larry Page said of the big acquisition.
Of course, there is also enthusiasm on the other side. "We are excited to join Google," said Tony Fadell, who was heavily involved in the development of iPods at Apple before eventually creating his own successful and innovative Nest company. And he ended up on the other side of the barricade at Google. "With their support, Nest will be an even better place to create simple and ingenious devices that make our homes safer and have a positive impact on our world."
Google is not going to cancel or close the Nest Labs brand, unlike other cases where it was mainly about various development teams and mobile applications. On the contrary, it will continue to be an independent cell that will not appear under the Google logo, and Tony Fadell will remain at the head. After approval by the relevant authorities, the closing of the entire transaction should take place in the coming months.
The possible use of Nest products by Google is not yet clear, but the use of speech recognition technology associated with devices such as the thermostat appears to be an interesting possibility. This could take Google one step further in controlling our homes. All Nest has confirmed so far is that it will continue to support Apple and its iOS devices.
Pretty sly that Apple doesn't feel the potential of homes and didn't buy them themselves. Plus his brains would come back.
Fadell refused to comment on Apple's possible interest, because he cannot. But he said Google's offer was by far the best. In addition, I do not believe that Apple would want to sell something under a brand other than apple, from that point of view (at least temporarily) Google's treatment of Nest is relatively positive.
But after all, Apple offers other brands on its website, even the thermostat was probably there. It would depend on the contract, of course.
Yep, that thermostat was on the US store. It also doesn't work elsewhere thanks to embarrassing SW limitations. So I kick it in the ass when I refuse to make it operational for global use!
Yes, but those are companies/products that Apple didn't buy. If he bought out Nest, Nestem would certainly not remain.
For example, Nest didn't want to go back to Apple. I'm a little sad that Google. I was quite a fan of Nest