Nest22 Jan 2014 11:14
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Google has made a bold bet on the emerging “internet of things” with the $3.2bn acquisition of Nest Labs, a four-year-old start-up founded by Apple veterans that makes “smart” thermostats and smoke alarms for the home.
The deal is the second largest in Google’s history, behind its $12.5bn Motorola acquisition in 2011 and ahead of DoubleClick, the display advertising network it paid $3.1bn for in 2007.
“Nest’s founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family,” Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, said in a statement. “We are excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries and fulfil their dreams!”
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The move is Mr Page’s latest foray beyond Google’s core business of online advertising into hardware and connected devices, following experiments with self-driving cars, its wearable technology Glass, and acquisitions in robotics.
Nest immediately sought to head off possible concerns about combining data collected from customers’ homes with other information that Google has collected from their online browsing or mobile activity. “Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services,” Nest said.
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With their sleek design and intuitive interfaces, Nest’s products have made it a poster child for the so-called internet of things, the idea that a large variety of devices, from the domestic to the industrial, can be improved through online connectivity.
Nest’s objective has been to “reinvent the unloved products that proliferate in our homes”, Mr Fadell wrote in a blog post on Monday.
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