Manufacturer Nest's newest products to hit the market, Nest Hello and the Nest x Yale Lock, are now available and create a more holistic portfolio of home automation products.
Nest was originally cast as a "bet" by Google and its parent company, multinational conglomerate Alphabet, upon its purchase for $3.2 billion in 2014. As of February 2018, Nest has been moved into Google's hardware unit, joining groups working on products including Google Home and Pixel phones, a potential opportunity for strategic growth, Fast Company reports. Nest director of product marketing Maxime Veron says, “We are closer than ever with every Google team. We’re part of Google. We’re not a bet anymore.”
When Nest shipped its first smart thermostat in 2011, it wasn’t just a strikingly new take on the mundane matter of controlling a home’s temperature. It also felt like a historic beachhead in the battle to convince consumers to wire up their households with smart devices—which helps explain why Google bought the startup for $3.2 billion a little over a year later.
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