“A few years ago, Nest was widely viewed as one of Silicon Valley’s brightest stars. Founded by Tony Fadell, a key figure in Apple’s iPod team, Nest aimed to produce a line of user-friendly, connected home appliances,” Timothy B. Lee reports for Vox. “Given Fadell’s Apple background and Nest’s focus on hardware, many people wondered if Nest would become the new Apple.”
“The company’s first product, the Nest Learning Thermostat, got rave reviews,” Lee reports. “Google was so impressed by the company that it paid $3.2 billion for it in 2014.”
“But since then, Nest has struggled,” Lee reports. “It acquired Dropcam in 2014 and rebranded Dropcam’s flagship security camera as the Nest Cam in 2015. Beyond that, Nest hasn’t introduced a single new hardware product, and it looks increasingly unlikely that it can justify that lofty acquisition price. That’s less because of specific problems with the company’s management than because the entire category of internet-connected home devices doesn’t seem that promising.”
“A recent profile by The Information‘s Reed Albergotti paints a picture of a company in chaos, with low morale and a stalled product road map. Albergotti places much of the blame for Nest’s poor performance on Fadell and his abrasive and erratic management style,” Lee reports. “Fadell’s critics say that he is both too prone to micromanaging subordinates and too prone to changing his mind. As a result, Nest employees seem to be stuck in an endless cycle of product revisions, causing new releases to be delayed.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote in January 2014:
A lot has been made of Google getting former Apple employees with their wild overpayment for Nest Labs. However, if Apple really wanted and valued these employees, they’d still be at Apple.
A Nest is the last thermostat or smoke alarm you want. You want quality thermostats and smoke alarms.
SEE ALSO:
Nest employees: Tony Fadell-led company is a poorly managed, fear-driven machine – February 16, 2016
Google engineer trashes Tony Fadell’s precious Nest smoke alarm – February 19, 2015
With HomeKit and Honeywell’s Lyric, a Nest acquisition by Apple would have been foolish – June 18, 2014
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
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “boecherer” for the heads up.]