“With Google announcing yesterday that it acquired the Tony Fadell-led Nest Labs for a cool US$3.2 billion, an emerging narrative is that Google caught Apple asleep at the wheel,” Yoni Heisler writes for TUAW. “For many who keep a close eye on tech, an Apple/Nest Labs acquisition seemed like a match made in heaven.”
“I myself was quick to hop on this bandwagon,” Heisler writes. “But the more I thought about it, the more it became clear to me that Apple purchasing Nest, especially for billions of dollars, just didn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
“There’s no denying that Nest Labs is doing some really cool work and has already put out two really great and forward-thinking products in just three years time. And again, there’s no denying that Nest’s products have a distinctive Apple-y vibe to them, a fact which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that the company was co-founded are two highly regarded Apple alums,” Heisler writes. “That notwithstanding, assume for a second that Apple was the company that purchased Nest Labs. Now what? Now Apple all of a sudden finds itself selling thermostats and smoke detectors. And it paid $3.2 billion for that privilege? Where’s the win there?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple didn’t want Tony enough to keep him the first time. Why would they pay the fargin’ ridiculous sum of $3.2 billion to get him back? If they really wanted him, they could have kept him at Apple for his entire natural life – built him his own building and given him his own engineering staff to make thermostats, smoke alarms, and whatever else – for far, far less than that.
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