Google Nest Merger

Nest's tumultuous journey from start-up to major Google brand.

17:14 15 May 2019

Google has merged Nest, the smart-thermostat startup acquired in 2014, into its internal hardware development division. In May 7, the tech giant has revealed the unification of the Nest and Google smart-home brands at Google I/O developer conference. It also unveiled Nest Hub Max that is meant to be the centerpiece of Google’s smart-home range. It works as a Google Assistant, a smart facial identification and gesture control system, a security camera and a Google Duo video chat terminal.

 

 

 

Google is clearly determined to position Nest as a leading player in the home automation industry. The giant tech company bought the start-up five years ago for £2.5billion. The connected home firm hasn’t been always been a comfortable fit and there were reports that Alphabet attempted to sell it to Amazon. By the time it was bought by Google, Nest Labs was to operate independently. However, there were controversies and clouds over Nest’s future early on. In 2016, there had been 70 resignations with staff complaining that they felt innovation at the firm at come to a standstill.

 

 

 

However, things looked more promising after Rishi Chandra, Google’s vice president of product management took over. He made Nest part of Google concluding a February 2018 plan to fully merge Nest and its engineers into Google.