Google Buys Nest For $3.2B

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It looks as though Google has acquired Nest, the people that sell high-end thermostats and smoke detectors, for a reported $3.2 billion. :eek:

Google has the business resources, global scale and platform reach to accelerate Nest growth across hardware, software and services for the home globally. And our company visions are well aligned – we both believe in letting technology do the hard work behind the scenes so people can get on with the things that matter in life. Google is committed to helping Nest make a difference and together, we can help save more energy and keep people safe in their homes.
 
Now Google can get even more into your life by monitoring your house.
 
sort of like how Comcast Xfinity has home security packages I guess.
 
I never read into the Nest products until now. Sounds pretty cool. But it's dangerously close to exceeding what you need.

Control the temperature using your smartphone? Talk about first-world problems.
 
All the new info Google can now gain (sell) about how you live in your house.

Oh and now they just need to integrate cameras into their thermostats and smoke detectors so Google can do House View.
 
Nest is built around the thermostat learning you and your dwellings' habits to help you save energy. Now some people say that any programmable thermostat can do this. Also cheaper thermostats that can be controlled from phone. So is Nest really worth $200 or more per device? Lots of people say no.

I can say I have 2 nest and 1 protect. The 2 nest alone were close to $500. Did I see a return? yes. I replaced some programmable thermostats that had a pretty aggressive program. The Nest were more efficient. They did it better. Now I doubt I will see a return on the $100 protect I purchased, but I was willing to pay to support Nest. To each their own.
 
I looked into getting a Nest as a replacement for our existing thermostat, but after reading a large number of reviews slamming the things, I backed away.. far far away.

They apparently do not have a whole lot of tolerance built into them for the kind of power lines used in typical houses and are routinely fried after only a few weeks of use. Other companies that have been making thermostats for a very long time have products that are not as shiny, but otherwise function great in comparison.

Still haven't pulled the trigger yet.. since a NAS purchase got in the way...
 
im perfectly happy with my $100 - 150 CDN honeywell smart thermostat i bought from costco :D

my dad loves it, and it even e-mails us when it has lost communication with wifi or the temp in the house reached a certain point
 
I bought a Nest exactly 1 week ago, and it's a pretty cool device; definately not worth the money if you are wondering though. Now that Google owns it, I'm actually kind of curious how this product will develop, especially what is being tracked... Am I going to get ads for jackets now since I don't run much heat?
 
Guys, this company was started in 2010 by former apple engineers. This is BEYONNNNNDDDDD unbelievable that it was sold for this much. God those guys are a bunch of lucky mother fuckers.
 
The only reason Google bought this is so that Apple cannot.

$200 thermostats are not the mass market future.
 
people said Nest is not worth it or google overpaid....

unless you actually own this thermostat for at least a few months before you can claim whether it is worth it.


I owned 2 Nests and I think google made a very smart move. Nest hardware and software are way ahead of anything out there. what google is interested in most is the data that Nest collects: where you live, your temperature, the pattern of your being away, etc. this data fits well into business model of google.
 
people said Nest is not worth it or google overpaid....

unless you actually own this thermostat for at least a few months before you can claim whether it is worth it.


I owned 2 Nests and I think google made a very smart move. Nest hardware and software are way ahead of anything out there. what google is interested in most is the data that Nest collects: where you live, your temperature, the pattern of your being away, etc. this data fits well into business model of google.

After having one for over a year now I absolutely love my Nest. A lot of people seem to think its just a $300 t-stat you can control from your phone, and while true, it's only a small portion of what it does.

For the first 12 months we let the thing run itself, but back in October we had our first child, and i turned off the auto-learning/setting so we could keep the temp a constant for awhile until he got a little older. Our gas bill instantly went up almost 30% from the year prior during the same months.
 
jeez, I was thinking about getting one of the thermostats too

but now...ummmm...no
 
Great, cloud-based thermostats and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors with a user interface designed for a 5 year-old by a 5 year-old. Nobody ever took Google's business platforms serious.
 
After having one for over a year now I absolutely love my Nest. A lot of people seem to think its just a $300 t-stat you can control from your phone, and while true, it's only a small portion of what it does.


Ditto. I installed one close to a year ago (April 2013). My AC bills and heat bills were/are about 30% lower, even considering that the summer of 2013 was much hotter than 2012 and so far this winter has been much colder than a year ago.

I absolutely love the thing.
 
what google is interested in most is the data that Nest collects: where you live, your temperature, the pattern of your being away, etc. this data fits well into business model of google.

Do you actually have a link or something to support that assertion, or just wild speculation?
 
Ditto. I installed one close to a year ago (April 2013). My AC bills and heat bills were/are about 30% lower, even considering that the summer of 2013 was much hotter than 2012 and so far this winter has been much colder than a year ago.

I absolutely love the thing.

I've fell onto the Nest wagon over a year ago and even though it is expensive, I can say that we have seen a significant drop with our gas bill during the winter time. Out of all of the gadgets and home automation devices out there, this has form and function. If I had to purchase it all over again, I would. I'm very curious now as to what google will do with this device. Seriously, one of the few devices that I can say, don't knock it until you have tried it. These guys nailed it and now are obviously going to reap the benefits of the sale. Not bad for a startup company that just started about 4-5 years ago.
 
And this is why I went the DIY route. I don't trust any kind of home automation stuff that I did not design and code myself... especially if it gets bought by a company like Google.

Can bet the NSA is funding any future additions they make to this, and possibly future home automation stuff Google may start to get into.
 
Do you actually have a link or something to support that assertion, or just wild speculation?

no links. everything Google does has everything to do with consumer data to feed their core business, ad.

Google gave out Android, Gmail, GPS, search, Doc, Map, etc for free. you think they do it for charity?

Nest allows google access to your home data.
 
And this is why I went the DIY route. I don't trust any kind of home automation stuff that I did not design and code myself... especially if it gets bought by a company like Google.

Can bet the NSA is funding any future additions they make to this, and possibly future home automation stuff Google may start to get into.

so you don't use google search, map, GPS, android? or did you swipe your credit card at
Target?

this is the world we live in.
 
Bought two nests a few years ago, worked well for 3 and then 4 months before they burned out on me.

Should say I bought one, they replaced my first one for me but refused on the second. House was only three years old when I installed it. Oh well, I'll try again in the future.
 
I've been happy with my Nest for the last year. The only complaint is that they purposely don't tell you how to install it on dual fuel systems, and instead try to sell you their premium installation service. It took my 2 days to figure it out on my own.

It is really not much more than a premium shiny toy though. It does nothing that a modern cheap thermostat can't already do, but it does it with a nice UI. Any claimed money savings just means that you didn't have your old tstat programmed properly. That said, I'd still buy it again.
 
interface is nice, I had two of them. didn't do anything for decreasing my bill at all. Not an issue with the device, more so my home AC/heating system I think. Sold them as I am doing my best to have as little geolocation information on my home as possible.

good buy from google though, all that data is priceless as homes get more automated, and come online with personal clouds, cameras, remote controls for lights and appliances etc.
 
Can someone please tell me how to get someone to buy my companies at 10X+ revenue?
 
what google is interested in most is the data that Nest collects: where you live, your temperature, the pattern of your being away, etc. this data fits well into business model of google.

Customers should get paid to provide this type of information, not have to pay Apple-esque prices for a gadget that collects them.
 
Google's purchase makes sense, their robots will need these sensors to better detect human settlements to wipe out
 
Oh and now they just need to integrate cameras into their thermostats and smoke detectors so Google can do House View.

Which will be no doubt available for everyone in your circles. No need to mention the others.
 
so you don't use google search, map, GPS, android? or did you swipe your credit card at
Target?

this is the world we live in.

I avoid Google as much as possible. I use duckduckgo most of the time, GPS turned off on my phone (though that does not mean much it just says it's off) I do use android... it's that, or an Apple. Would be nice if an open source Linux based phone came out that compared with Apple/Google. No Target here, but it does make me think about how we trust other company's security when we probably should not. They don't care, they have insurence.

We live in a pretty scary world these days. It's what capitalism has brought to us.
 
Guys, this company was started in 2010 by former apple engineers. This is BEYONNNNNDDDDD unbelievable that it was sold for this much. God those guys are a bunch of lucky mother fuckers.

Yeah, every time I see news like this I become envious as hell. Someone comes up with an innovative idea, makes it real, and retires at like 30 or something. I'd love to try my hand at entrepreneurship, but I'm still stuck on the first part (coming up with an idea).
 
RadioThermostat sells a wifi thermostat for a fraction of the cost and also lists all the APIs to control it. I have one at home and its awesome. I even poll the thermostat for data and log it in mysql then generate graphs on run time and average temperature.

I use this data against the gas company when they send me their "estimated usage" bill. Also fun to look at historical data...
 
Yeah, every time I see news like this I become envious as hell. Someone comes up with an innovative idea, makes it real, and retires at like 30 or something. I'd love to try my hand at entrepreneurship, but I'm still stuck on the first part (coming up with an idea).

The key to happiness is dreams, and the key to success is fulfilling those dreams.
 
no links. everything Google does has everything to do with consumer data to feed their core business, ad.

Google gave out Android, Gmail, GPS, search, Doc, Map, etc for free. you think they do it for charity?

Nest allows google access to your home data.

lol foxnews. Your forum handle describes you to a T
 
Yeah, every time I see news like this I become envious as hell. Someone comes up with an innovative idea, makes it real, and retires at like 30 or something. I'd love to try my hand at entrepreneurship, but I'm still stuck on the first part (coming up with an idea).

The problem is not normally the idea, but the implementation and execution. That and generating enough capital.
 
I've fell onto the Nest wagon over a year ago and even though it is expensive, I can say that we have seen a significant drop with our gas bill during the winter time. Out of all of the gadgets and home automation devices out there, this has form and function. If I had to purchase it all over again, I would. I'm very curious now as to what google will do with this device. Seriously, one of the few devices that I can say, don't knock it until you have tried it. These guys nailed it and now are obviously going to reap the benefits of the sale. Not bad for a startup company that just started about 4-5 years ago.

They were not even the first to market(for smart/advance wifi thermostats.) Ecobee beat them by a few years. They were first to focus on mass appeal(selling directly to consumers). Personally I find the Ecobee Units superior a majority of the time. Heck the Nest 1 could not even handle 2 stage units.

In all honesty a simple programmable unit would work 99% of the time(same savings as a nest) if the consumer had the time/interest/knowledge to program it wisely. Basically set it to an comfortable energy efficient settings and have it reset to those settings every x hours. The advance wifi units are nice if you like to looking at data, but they rarely save much over programmable thermostats. You still tend to save ~30-40%.

Still I find nothing wrong with nest units. They are attractive and function reasonably well a majority of the time. They have had ups and downs. Bricked units etc, but for the most part they work reasonably well. I do like not having to push 100 buttons to program the week in the first time, but quite a few units beat them to market which said features.

I agree with the other data collection posts. Google wants the data collection. That is their core business. While not the largest nest fan, at least they are trying to design devices oriented around the needs of consumers. Proving that consumers will pay for refined products.

Overall I do like advanced wifi units and would always want one.
 
I had a nest, didn't like the whole "cloud" aspect, got rid of it... use a proliphix now, connected via hard wire ethernet, works great
 
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