“Google’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest was interesting on a number of fronts,” Yoni Heisler writes for TUAW. “Not only did it result in a slew of ex-Apple employees finding themselves under the employ of Google, but it also prompted many to wonder, ‘Why didn’t Apple buy Nest?'”
“While it remains to be seen what Fadell and his team come up with now that they have the full weight of Google behind them, two recent events bear out that Apple acquiring Nest would have made a great headline, but wouldn’t have necessarily been a smart strategic move,” Heisler writes. “First, we have the Honeywell Lyric. Yep, Nest isn’t the only game in town anymore as the company long associated with thermostats has decided to jump into the 21st century with its own take on a modern thermostat. The Verge recently ran an extensive review of the Lyric and it looks like a serious competitor to Nest on all fronts.”
“Point number two; the recent introduction of HomeKit,” Heisler writes. “HomeKit is expected to work with home items as varied as locks, lights, doors, thermostats and more. What’s more, Apple at WWDC announced that it had partnered up with a number of big name companies, including Honeywell, Philips, iHome, Haier, and Osram Sylvania… More so than manufacturing and selling peripheral devices like thermostats on its own, Apple is aiming to make the HomeKit framework so prevalent and appealing to developers that all third party hardware peripherals will want to tie into it.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Will Apple’s Internet of Things vision hurt a beautiful idea? With HomeKit, Apple promises easy home automation – June 6, 2014
Smart thermostat war heats up as Apple-partner Honeywell takes aim at Google’s Nest – June 13, 2014
Honeywell takes dead aim at Google’s Nest with new iPhone-compatible Lyric smart thermostat – June 10, 2014
Dead to me: Apple’s Schiller ‘unfollows’ Tony Fadell and Nest after Google acquisition – January 18, 2014
Apple isn’t interested in being a manufacturer of a multitude of devices. Apple wants to be the center of your universe, the product you can’t live without, the item you never go anywhere without. HomeKit and HealthKit are just the beginning of tying your home and your medical to the iPhone. Next is MoneyKit or iWallet or whatever they call it, tying your money to your iPhone.
All? That is an all encompassing word, is it not? He should have qualified his statement by stating that ‘most if not all’.
That tells me that Yoni Heisler is fishing for hits with that article. I ain’t biting!!!
“That tells me that Yoni Heisler is fishing for hits with that article”
Why else do you think people write articles online?
“He should have qualified his statement by stating that ‘most if not all’ ”
I suggest that is a microscopic nuance compared to the bull that most “pundits” put out, and certainly not worth reacting about.
Thank you Sean! I am worth reacting about!!! 🙂
Now, where is my bait bucket? I need to rebait the line that Sean bit in order to catch me an even bigger fish!!! 🙂
Start using crude language and insulting people, and you’ll have Sean’s undivided attention. /s
But I know you won’t do that. I divine that your mind works…rather differently. :). Stay above the fray, & continue to make meta-comments, that would be my humble advice
I see what you did there 🙂
If you can assemble nuclear bombs, you should be able to make a thermostat to compete with Nest
I give you the Iranian ‘Heats’ Thermostat. As hot as Hell.
$3.2 billion for Nest or $3.2 billion for Beats? You decide…
Beats
I never thot Apple needed to spend $3 billion to come up with a cool thermostat.
And by the same token, I never thot they needed to spent $3 billion to come up with some cool headphones.
I thot the same 🙂
Foolish is $3B for a POS headphone company.
Exactly, Beats is Radio Shack Quality at B&W prices for sheeple more concerned with a label and image than performance.
yeah, and it ain’t like doesn’t have any engineers and designers of their own.
It sounds like the geofencing is what makes this thing change the temperature. I see nothing regarding schedule setting. That means everyone in a household who comes and goes requires a mobile device in order to activate this thermostat. A month or so ago I bought one of the wifi Honeywell thermostats and think the thing is fantastic. Using the iPad app setting schedules is amazingly simple. And I can remotely change temps with very little effort. I have no interest in the this newer device.
I wonder how the setup is for these devices? Do you punch out a hole in your firewall or is it hosted by the device maker and charged a monthly fee? If they have to host something no thank you!
The Nest is best for google glassholes being held under house arrest/curfew for public stalking offences.
Apple’s approach to platforms will have a far reaching affect compared to others… the more people you have on board and have a vested interested in your platform, the more viable that platform becomes; CarPlay, HealthKit, HomeKit, iBeacon, Passbook, Metal, MFi, etc. It’s safe to say the the ecosystem built around Apple’s products have already hit a critical mass and have become self-sustaining and self-perpetuating.
Honeywell would have never cleaned up their act except for Nest. Fadell & Co had to show them how it’s done.
Actually bough a great Honeywell Thermostat LAST YEAR. Yes it is wifi. Yes, it works great. Yes, it has an app. And I bought it on sale for under $100. Nest for $250? I don’t think so. The sun would have risen, with or without Nest.
Apple’s version of “Open Source.”
A few of predicted EXACTLY this right here on this forum when Nest was snapped up by google.