Google bought the manufacturer of thermostats for $ 3.2 billion

Is Google preparing to offer something for the idea of ​​a “smart home”?

Today it became known that the search giant acquired Nest, a manufacturer of thermostats, for a significant $ 3.2 billion. About the company itself became known about three years ago: in particular the fact that the head of the company is Tony Fedell, the former senior vice president of one of Apple’s divisions (the release and the success of the iPod are associated with it), and its technical side probably has academic Roots - Vice-President is Yoku Matsuoka, a professor at CS University of Washington.

The Nest thermostat itself is a “smart” device for “smart” temperature control in the house - with a recognizable and concise iPod-like design. Apparently, the company is quite successful: it is claimed that it sells from 40 to 50 thousand of such thermostats per month (and the price is rather big - $ 249), while having a significant amount of venture financing of $ 80 million received about a year ago. Only on the thermostats Nest did not stop and now produces and smoke detectors and carbon monoxide Nest Protect for $ 129.

What Google is going to do with Nest products is not yet known: in the QA session about the acquisition, it is said in the sense that since we attracted Google’s attention to our devices, it’s obvious that we can do a lot together, but for now it’s too early to talk about it.
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