“Perhaps you’ve heard that Google bought Nest this week for $3.2 billion,” Tony Bradley writes for Forbes. “Since news of the purchase was made public, though, some have questioned why Apple didn’t buy it first, and many are concerned about the implications of Google owning Nest.”
“Consider… the backlash that has occurred from many users over the news that Google bought Nest,” Bradley writes. “Philip Michaels wrote on TechHive about his concerns over the privacy implications of Google having access to the data collected by Nest devices. He summed up with, ‘After all, it ultimately comes down to trust. I only like inviting guests into my home that I can trust. And Google hasn’t earned that trust, no matter what its vision for the automated home may be.'”
“I’ve heard great things about the Nest thermostat and I’ve had my eye on getting one for my house for some time. Now that Google owns Nest, I am less interested because I don’t trust Google,” Bradley writes. “The reason it’s good that Apple didn’t buy Nest is because doing so would alienate the segment of the market that doesn’t trust Apple. The reason Google shouldn’t have bought Nest is that doing so has alienated the segment of the population that doesn’t trust Google.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Among other things, Google squandered their good will by knocking off iPhone and by vacuuming up personal data in “Street View” drive-bys. These two acts alone, showed Google’s “Do No Evil” motto to be “bullshit,” as Steve Jobs once so aptly described it.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Google, Nest, and the value of your home’s energy profile – January 16, 2014
Why Apple didn’t buy Tony Fadell’s Nest Labs – January 14, 2014
Feuds, funding and a fed up Fadell: Why Apple didn’t buy Nest – January 14, 2014
Did Tim Cook blow it by not snapping up Nest before Google? – January 13, 2014
Google to buy Nest Labs for $3.2 Billion – January 13, 2014
Tony Fadell introduces Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector – October 8, 2013
Tony Fadell, Father of the iPod: From Apple to Nest Labs, always a designer – July 24, 2013
Apple Store to sell Tony Fadell’s Nest Learning Thermostat, report claims – May 25, 2012
‘Father of the iPod’ Tony Fadell shows off his new project: Thermostats – October 25, 2011
Google Street View cars grabbed locations of cellphones, computers – July 26, 2011
Steve Jobs: Adobe is ‘lazy’, Google can’t ‘kill iPhone,’ ‘Don’t be evil’ mantra is ‘bullshit’ – February 1, 2010
On the one hand I want the public to be concerned about security and not trust the government as well as corporations. (Especially the government cause they have the guns and prisons). And they can beat up corporations and take data from them anytime they like.
On the other hand, I feel sad that the world is starting to come around to my level of paranoia.
My fondest wish is that I’m wrong about pretty much everything.
Our wives can feed that hope.
Henny Youngman would have approved of your witticism; personally, I’ll abstain from comment.
Regarding: “On the other hand, I feel sad that the world is starting to come around to my level of paranoia.
Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean that they are not out to get you.
Look out, the paranoids are watching you!
unfortunately, you are correct.
another day at the office:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/nsa-collects-millions-text-messages-daily-untargeted-global-sweep
The agency was also able to extract geolocation data from more than 76,000 text messages a day, including from “requests by people for route info” and “setting up meetings”.
I THOUGHT I was going to get a day off from revelations of NSA criminal activity. Nope! Another day, another illegal NSA program revelation. It’s time for a good nuking, metaphorically speaking. What fun it will be to hear Obama’s upcoming hand-slapping speech. Gentlemen, pad your bottoms!
Obama is an obscenity to all free men.
Plus, he’s an obscenity all on his own. The day he was born was a tragic day indeed. Too bad his mom didn’t killed in a car wreck before that.
Obama may not be perfect but I certainly wouldn’t want to live in a world that belonged to you my friend.
I have some people higher on my disrespect list. I certainly have no interest in going sarcastic about him or his family.
But, like George W. Bush before him, the guy is an agent of demolition of the USA. I don’t want him in office. I have no reason to believe him. I’m sick of the lies. I’m sick of the outright treasonous behavior that undermines We The People. Impeachment sounds great to me!
I fear big business more than big government. At least in the US. You at least have the power (small, but it is there) to change the government. You have zero power to change corporations. You can vote out mayors, reps, senators, you don’t like. Again, it is very difficult to do, small chance to unseat an incumbent, etc., but it can be done. You can’t unseat any CEO you don’t like. Moreover, in the US, at the least, there are laws such as Freedom of Information Act. 4th amendment, 1st amendment, etc. Corporations have no limits or shackles such as those.
RE:(Especially the government cause they have the guns and prisons)
The prisons and security are becoming more privatized every day. There is big money on locking up Americans and the people making it are giving money to politicians to keep it that way.
https://www.aclu.org/prison-profiteers
The fact is that corporate America has bought and paid for our political system and is bleeding it dry for profit- your “rights” are just an inconvenience being whittled away by members of the 2 money parties- the Ultra Right Wing Money Party (Republicans) and the Moderate Right Wing Money Party (Democrats).
There is another reason.
We own 3 of the Nest thermostats and we love them because they are very nice. I do feel like the author however and would not have bought them if I knew Google owned Nest. I just recently purchased the smoke detector and will be returning it.
But that is really besides the point. The Nest technology is good but I feel in light of things like iBeacon that it is probably not all that advanced. I think Tony F. sold because he got a great price and could see the handwriting on the wall.
Would you have purchased them if they looked like a typical thermostat in a beige box? I wonder how many people bought them because of their sleek look.
The Nest thermostat does come in a beige box.
Trust is earned.
Distrust is also earned.
I deliberately set up Sufari on my Mac to disallow tracking by Google.
Google deliberately bypassed those setting and tracked me anyway, and got fined for it by the US government.
Why would anyone trust Google?
Through their own efforts, Google has earned my distrust.
I think this storm in a teacup will blow over after a couple of weeks when the public furore has died down. Not that I’m condoning Google or theft of data but seriously when you think about it at what level of paranoia do you need to display before you get spooked by the amount of data collected by a thermostat. You probably give out more data through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, G+, and a myriad other services than you could ever hope to achieve on a thermostat.
The only data you’d be giving out is probably what temperature you prefer setting your house at. Mine is always set to cosy with sexy soft music playing the background.
Ah yes, just you, Mrs. Palmer, and her five daughters.
Sure why not? I believe in having the best of everything, even if as you say it’s just Mrs Palmer. No problem with that at all.
You also have to give them your WuFi password.
Some people might not like the idea of Google owning data like of that nature.
If you just set it to a constant “cosy” [stet] temperature, why get a Nest device at all? Just get a simple $9.95 thermostat and be done with it.
Most people’s objection is based upon the facts that 1) they set the temperature in their house differently when their away than when they are home and 2) many set their thermostats differently when they are at home asleep versus when they are at home awake.
Do you want Google to know when you’re home and when you’re not? Do you want Google to know when you’re asleep at home? ((According to the song lyrics it’s supposed to be only Santa Clause that knows when you are sleeping and knows when you’re awake. Google may think of themselves as Santa Clause, but they’re not.)) What kind of advertising are you going to get when Google knows this information? Who will Google sell this information to so that they can make money off of knowing when you are home and when you are awake at home? Google has repeatedly shown that they have zero ethics when it comes to what they do with data about you.
Or…someone hacks Google’s system (or the data stream between your home and Google proper) and now that hacker has your home habits and the habits of everyone else in your area that has a Nest device.
It knows when the house is empty. That alone is enough to give one the creeps. Do you really not care that Google can know that?
I hope gaggle doesn’t buy Phillips for Hue.
Phillips is a publicly traded multi-national. Not much of a chance (yet)
You say that as if Google couldn’t afford Philips. Philips has a market cap of less than $35 Billion, while Google has over $50 Billion in cash (and growing). I highly doubt Google would be interested in buying Philips, but they could definitely afford it.
Google has the money, but the EU would not approve the buyout by an American company.
I covetted the Nest thermostat. But do no more.
I like the idea of smart technology, but congruent to my own thoughts, unless I wish to share them, the data they collect, to make my life easier, should be kept locked up within my own reach, to use, to destroy perminently as I see fit.
I was a next user from early days and things started going down south for Nest in last six months. Their customer service was horrible in last few months. Nest took of their official forums from search engine index to hide problems. The final straw was V4.0 which shut down the heater in one of the coldest days of the decade. I had to rip my Nest out and put back the old thermostat at 2:00 Am or risk freezing the home. I had to wait hrs on the phone to talk to support and they would reply emails after 2 days. The Nest looked good but their Manangement was incompetent in making sure that company can scale to serve millions of users. Google bough a company which was losing customer satisfaction.
Sent from Iphone.
Indicative of start up burning through it start up capital and firing support staff & engineers willy nilly.
They had to fall into the arms of Google or go belly up financially.
While we are on the subject of trust, do you trust the Android maker not to discontinue their Nest IOS apps in the future?
“Google ads target Canadians using personal health info.”
CDCNEWS headline
Google’s share price has gone up about $25 since acquiring Nest Labs and easily pushing its market cap up enough to cover the cost. Investors seem rather ecstatic about it. Google seems to keep adding more and more shareholder value to the company so Wall Street doesn’t see it as a problem. Acquisitions seem to excite investors.
Truthfully, Wall Street seems far less satisfied with Apple for never spending much money on worthwhile acquisitions. Supposedly Google’s acquisition of Motorola was considered a bad deal but since that time Google has really taken off while Apple has gone in the opposite direction. That’s just how things work, I suppose. Smart thermostats and smoke alarms gives Google a brighter future as some people see it. I don’t see much revenue coming to Google from those devices but obviously someone does.
Google needs to do something. Their motorola smartphones just lost 27% market share at Apples and Samtheif’s expense.
http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/16/us-iphone-ownership-grows-to-42-of-smartphone-users-outpacing-samsung-others/
Your statements illustrate what is wrong with the mentality of 90+% of investors and virtually 100% of those who report on the doings of the Wall Street Gang.
1) Unless Google issued new shares to cover the cost of the purchase of Nest, that $25 a share increase did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for Google to cover the cost of buying Nest. The increase in market cap has absolutely no bearing on the cash on hand that Google used to buy Nest. (And if they did a stock swap, the prices at which the stocks were swapped were fixed long before the deal was announced so the increase in stock price still has no benefit to Google to cover the cost of buying Nest.)
2) Buying Nest does not, in any way shape or form, “unlock value” in Google’s stock. No “value” was locked up in the first place. People and institutional investors are just gambling that the stock will continue to rise based upon Google expanding into a new business area. People and investors think this will drive the stock price up further and thus they are buying it now counting on making a profit when it continues to go up. It’s pure speculation on what other investors will do in the future. There is no “locked value” in Google. It’s 100% gambling buy investors.
It really has nothing to do with Google’s “brighter future” it is all about how people believe other people will perceive the *value of the stock* (not the value of Google) in the future.
I wish I could give your comments 100 stars.
Over the past 5 days both Microsoft and Apole stock have been up percentage wise more than Google. Microsoft up 3.8%, Apple 3.3%.
Google was only up 2.3%
I’ve wanted a Nest ever since it came out. Now that it’s own by Google I will not be buying one unfortunately. Doing my best to divorce Google!
Good God, Apple didn’t want to buy Nest. Get over it.
I bought and installed Nest thermostat for my home. It was pretty cool, iPhone control, nice dial, etc. Problem was when I upgraded my furnace to two-stage high efficiency system, Nest doesn’t support that. Bought (another) new thermo from Trane. Nest seems to have done a good job modernizing and making elegant the past, not so sure about the future.
I disagree with the premise of the article. People who object to Google because of privacy issues already object to Google because of privacy issues. Buying Nest may change their decisions regarding buying Nest products, but won’t change their opinions of Google (for better or worse).
Apple on the other hand has their own haters, and it’s not due to privacy issues. Apple buying Nest wouldn’t have increased the number of Apple haters, although the same issue applies in terms of Apple haters now turning their hatred to Nest (it’s overpriced!!!).
The difference is that the Nest was more of an Apple product than a Google product. Had Apple purchased Nest, a couple of years from now, people would’ve just considered it as an Apple product as if it always had been. While there are haters of every brand, Apple is overwhelmingly considered an affinity/aspirational brand and Nest would’ve fit into that.
Nothing in this comment is to suggest that Google is somehow good for Nest owners, or that Nest would’ve been a wise investment for Apple, just that the premise of the article is wrong in terms of what buying Nest would have done to Apple’s image, (or Nest’s if Apple had purchased it).
Was thinking about the Nest, will not be purchasing it now, not really interested in giving Google more data. Sales will probably drop for sure. Apple users will spend the money on good products, Android users are cheap and won’t spend the money. Will be interesting to see if it gets dropped from Apple stores.