Google to buy Nest for $3.2 billion

Google will own the makers of the Nest learning thermostat and smart smoke detector

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[potato44819]

Damn. I was hoping they would snap up ubiquity.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

New thermostats will now display ads and collect your household data, and can only be controlled by logging into Google Plus.

 

[lonewolfe2015]

Coming soon... Victoria's Secret advertisements to your thermostat.

 

[jbrodkin]

This is my favorite one so far, wish I thought of it: https://twitter.com/hondanhon/status/422840172992933888 "Now any Google+ user who knows your name can adjust your thermostat!"

 

[druski]

The old "Google buys great company to sit on in for a few years then kill it and fold a small fraction of its value and none of its style into its suite of google products". Means that by end of 2014 no more nest and by 2016 we'll have Google Radiator, which only has OFF and INCINERATE settings and requires you to log into google plus in order to turn it off once activated.

 

[MightyPez]

This kind of makes me less inclined to buy a Nest thermostat or smoke detector now.

In 2 (or whenever) years when Google releases their own device will the nest ecosystem still be fully supported?

Tangetially related, I was annoyed after firing up Waze since their acquisition that whenever I am stopped an ad takes up half my screen telling me to download Kevin Hart's voice for turn-by-turn to promote Ride Along. I understand a free app has to make money, but it was a sad thing to see.

 

[LuDux]

No, what will happen is Google will sit on it, not advertise it, and then some bureaucrat will decide that since it's not making enough money, they should shut it down, no matter its popularity.

 

[dugbug]

Darn

 

[whquaint]

Well, the Nest already knows when you come and go from your house, and when you sleep. Thank God Google will now add this to its database of the universe.

 

[maclancer]

Google is transforming himself into a giant monster owning every small tech company in the world.

 

[Babel-Babble]

I'm an economic dunderhead, so pardon me if this sounds ignorant, but Nest raised $80 million in venture funding and was scheduled to bring in an addition $150 million, but it's worth $3.2 *billion*? Why not just buy it for $250 million?

Google is steadily becoming something like Omni Consumer Products, and somehow many folks embrace it.

 

[Quiet Desperation]

Was hoping Apple would buy Nest and venture into home automation.

 

[sarusa]

'Nest will stay Nest'.

Yeah, right. For a couple months maybe. Then it's G+ accounts for everyone.

 

[Adam Starkey]

Huh. Google knows enough about me already, do they really need to know when I typically get up, and how long I spend in the shower?

 

[Justin-Case]

Google has more money than brains.
I look for them and facebook to be gone in about 7 years.
Each only a faint memory.
Please God, Make it so.

 

[jodycwilliams]

I loved the one I had before I upgraded to my power company's "smart" system. I was going to go back, but I refuse to use anything Google. Too bad. It was a great company with some wonderful products.

 

[Silellak]

As a Nest thermostat owner, I was really excited for the future of Nest and its products, especially after watching The Verge's interview with their CEO at CES...and now, sadly, I am much less excited. In general, I want to see more competition in the industry and less "we're buying people before they can grow into a mature company and compete with us."

 

[Adam Starkey]

Justin-Case[/url]":20gggdbt]Google has more money than brains.
I look for them and facebook to be gone in about 7 years.
Each only a faint memory.
Please God, Make it so.

Good luck with that.

Facebook sits on something of a house of cards, but Google aint going anywhere.

 

[ws3]

Babel-Babble[/url]":28ijytau]I'm an economic dunderhead, so pardon me if this sounds ignorant, but Nest raised $80 million in venture funding and was scheduled to bring in an addition $150 million, but it's worth $3.2 *billion*? Why not just buy it for $250 million?

Because Zuckerberg offered $3 billion?

 

[fuxxx]

This is a real worry, Google already controls so much personal information that adding this data to the mix is almost your entire life.

 

[Tarkanian]

Yeah, not to continue the pile-on or anything, but I'm really not looking forward to the inevitable G+ integration.

Bleah.

 

[bretrs]

I'm guessing the price tag has less to do with the tech and inventory of thermostats and more to do with the staggering amount of energy data that Nest has collected and is collecting for themselves and on behalf of energy providers. This probably ties into smart meter and smart home projects that Google has in the labs.

Still, disappointing. I really like my Nest and had plans to add some Protects to the house as well very soon. Rethinking that now.

 

[sarusa]

Babel-Babble[/url]":2ux0l8v5]I'm an economic dunderhead, so pardon me if this sounds ignorant, but Nest raised $80 million in venture funding and was scheduled to bring in an addition $150 million, but it's worth $3.2 *billion*? Why not just buy it for $250 million?

Apple and Google (and Qualcomm, and...) are battling it out for owning The Internet of Everything. It's the next mobile now that mobile is stagnant.

Google likely doesn't think Nest will ever sell $3.2B worth of thermostats or fire alarms - what they're getting is home device expertise, access to all the home data, and Apple designers/engineers who know how to make something without a completely horrible UI.

 

[jackstrop]

Justin-Case[/url]":19nmxjuy]Google has more money than brains.
I look for them and facebook to be gone in about 7 years.
Each only a faint memory.
Please God, Make it so.

Facebook is pointless garbage, but last time I checked you weren't being forced to use either Google or Facebook.

What's your beef?

 

[nathand496]

Damn it. Both items were on my list of upgrades to get.

 

[ESuzaku]

Does this mean that when I turn my heat up my thermostat will display ads for sweaters?

 

[Helmore]

What the hell. I didn't expect Nest to be anywhere near that high in value.

 

[Achilles]

The saddest thing to see here isn't that a promising small company was bought up (that's not necessarily a bad thing), it's all the comments toward Google.

I'm not so old to remember all the many companies that took that position before it, but in my nerdling formative years, it was Microsoft. And to see Google go from the white knight (pardon my lack of a better word right now) to the butt of so many jokes is sad. Not in a "shame on you all" way, more of a, "I guess it was bound to happen but still sad to see" way.

Interesting.

 

[ev9_tarantula]

Adam Starkey[/url]":fcp35cck]Good luck with that.

Facebook sits on something of a house of cards, but Google aint going anywhere.

Yeah what with the home automation stuff, Glass, loads of robotic companies, not to mention the self driving cars and the deal with IBM and Continental to develop them further, we'll one day be saying something along the lines of "do you remember when Google was a search engine?"

God knows what they have cooking, but I'm getting a very sci-fi vibe from it.

 

[Silellak]

Though hey, on a vaguely positive note, maybe this influx of capital will finally make their smoke detector drop to a reasonable price.

Nexus Protect!

 

[Kevek]

Damn, I really like my Nest but I definitely wont be buying any more of their products now.

I really don't feel safe with any data in Google's hands.

 

[mDuo13]

The negativity in this thread is a bit overstated, I think. Google's core expertise is in machine learning and massive-scale distributed ("cloud") computing. The machine learning bit fits right in with Nest's mission to make devices that know what you want without having to explicitly program them. Meanwhile Nest's expertise in making well-designed physical consumer products with nice interfaces is something that Google could learn from, so both sides stand to benefit from the buyout.

I'm not looking forward to Google+ integration, either, though.

 

[Jobe1983]

Now Google will know when to send you ads for a fire extinguisher, oops too late.

 

[jdale]

These are the dangers with any cloud-driven device. Your privacy is not protected even by a strong privacy policy. Google now owns it and can change the privacy policy to whatever they want. And if they shut it down (e.g. they bought it just for the talent, as they have done multiple times before), features are lost - for some devices, all functionality.

I'm very leery of buying anything that is unnecessarily cloud-connected. This just reinforces that.

 

[raven667]

Will they fold this into their recently purchased Boston Dynamics division, which is literally researching how to make a Terminator robot?

 

[Adam Starkey]

ESuzaku[/url]":3qt43vss]Does this mean that when I turn my heat up my thermostat will display ads for sweaters?

Actually, it could provide Google with way more interesting data than that. A sudden change in the times that your thermostat detects your presence could suggest the end of a relationship, or a job change, for example. Couple that data with what Google knows about your social circle, and any lifestyle changes they may abruptly make, may provide a surprisingly accurate insight into your life.

Of course, this saves you from the bother updating your status on G+, cos life can be hard work sometimes.

 

[gronowo]

Bought one of these a few months ago. Love it, but might have to put it on Craiglist...

But then I'd have to also be rid of my iPhone, Fitbit, license plates, Facebook, and any of my friends that use the same.