Mobile By Russell Holly Jan. 13, 2014 4:24 pm
It looks like the next step in making a smarter home is buying companies that are already doing a really great job in critical areas of the home.
For a couple of years now, we’ve heard about Google and their plans to take over the home. It started with Android @Home, where we’d be able to control lightbulbs and music services from our phones and tablets. That concept never really saw the light of day, and it was assumed that the project got shelved in an attempt to put “more wood behind fewer arrows” as Larry Page took over as CEO. Whispers of a return to home automation surfaced with Google EnergySense, which focused on intelligently controlling your thermostat remotely. From the app screenshots it looked like all they needed was some decent hardware, but a $3.2 billion purchase today has taken care of that as well.
Nest, the incredibly stylish and highly sophisticated company behind making thermostats and smoke detectors smarter, has been purchased by Google. The insane $3.2 billion price tag aside, this is a huge win for Google. Nest hardware was originally created by ex-Apple SVP Tony Fadell with iOS as the first target for software development in the early days, and an Apple Store is still one of the best places to find a Thermostat sitting on the shelf. With Tony continuing to run the company as a mostly separate entity, the sky is the limit for Google’s domination of the gadgets that drive your home.
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For a couple of years now, we’ve heard about Google and their plans to take over the home. It started with Android @Home, where we’d be able to control lightbulbs and music services from our phones and tablets. That concept never really saw the light of day, and it was assumed that the project got shelved in an attempt to put “more wood behind fewer arrows” as Larry Page took over as CEO. Whispers of a return to home automation surfaced with Google EnergySense, which focused on intelligently controlling your thermostat remotely. From the app screenshots it looked like all they needed was some decent hardware, but a $3.2 billion purchase today has taken care of that as well.
Nest, the incredibly stylish and highly sophisticated company behind making thermostats and smoke detectors smarter, has been purchased by Google. The insane $3.2 billion price tag aside, this is a huge win for Google. Nest hardware was originally created by ex-Apple SVP Tony Fadell with iOS as the first target for software development in the early days, and an Apple Store is still one of the best places to find a Thermostat sitting on the shelf. With Tony continuing to run the company as a mostly separate entity, the sky is the limit for Google’s domination of the gadgets that drive your home.
More...
