Google Acquiring Tony Fadell-Founded Nest for $3.2 Billion

[Chupa Chupa]

Guessing there will be an empty spot in Apple Stores tomorrow where the Nest products once sat.

So are they buying Nest or Tony Fadell? I think that's what Google was after, not thermostat or smoke detector.

 

[iScott428]

There goes ever seeing another software update for my Nest 1.0

 

[nzalog]

No but think about it. With the auto-away feature suddenly Google knows when you've left your home and when you've returned.

The value of Nest isn't the Thermostat or Smoke Detector. It's the data they collect and store.

Yeah kind of what I'm getting at, a camera and and a microphone are only the next step.

 

[kwikdeth]

"Want to control your NEST thermostat remotely? Log in with your Google+ account now!"

"Congratulations! You've just turned up the temperature two degrees. Would you like to share this on Google +?"

 

[perealb]

So, everything that's cool, either Google or Apple will buy.

 

[nzalog]

"Since Google's introduction of the NEST 3, there have been a few reports of families being cooked in their own homes over night. Authorities are still looking into it..."

 

[bkar89]

Yeah kind of what I'm getting at, a camera and and a microphone are only the next step.

And a quad core cpu! Can't forget about all that power (required by Google Analytics)

 

[ghost187]

3.2 billion for a small company that makes niche accessories? Nest would have to sell about 15 million thermostats to make that much revenue at $250 and likely 2x to make that much profit. This purchase may pay off... In a decade or two.

 

[macUser2007]

...


Google is acquiring Nest, the smart-home appliance maker that is behind the Nest Thermostat and the Nest Protect smoke detector, for a reported $3.2 billion in cash....

LOL. Some of these valuations are just bizarre. Unless Google needs something from Nest that is worth this kind of CASH. In which case it would be interesting to see what comes out of it in the next year or two, or three.

 

[TWSS37]

There are now several more layers of creepiness that can be added to Google Now.

Having a WiFi thermostat (not the Nest) right now, I can say that having something more front and center will make me pay more attention to settings that are outside the normal programmed temps.

 

[xVeinx]

"Hello. Our sensors have indicated the presence of two young kids."

*Airs commercials for sugared cereal and expensive toys they didn't know existed*

"Thank you. Returning to our normal duty of minimally adjusting air temperature."

 

[KazKam]

Dammit.

Glad I found out before I bought a second Nest thermostat for upstairs and a few Protects.

To all those saying we are overreacting, think again. Do you really want Google to have access to data from devices in your house that have motion detectors?

Way to sell out and ruin a good thing.

 

[macchiato2009]

People have been saying this kind of thing for a long time:

i don't understand how Apple, worth billions would ever profitable by creating very expensive phones and mp3 players supposed to replace cheap ones.

one can find a nokia feature phone for less than $80 and an mp3 player for less than $50

the potential value of geek customers would never match this amount

Apple creates computers, phones, ipods... lots of different consumer products that one expects to buy

my crystal ball doesn't picture me any future where smoke detectors and thermostats become must-have products

 

[xNYMetsx]

Big miss for Apple.

 

[Ai-apple]

Google is becoming "SKYNET"

 

[Scott6666]

Let's see, sell $250 thermostats with a 35% gross margin...

Will have to sell 36.5MM thermostats to generate enough gross margin to cover the purchase price.

Maybe 20% net before tax, that means 64MM thermostats, assuming of course you don't need to put more in any more capital (even though they were looking to raise $150MM) and don't want too much return on your investment.

Well there are about 115MM US households so they only need to get 50% to buy.

Unless of course you mean households making over $100k which is about 17%,so you only need 327% of the market.

Well, there's always China and India. And Dubai. Yeah, Dubai.

And future products, yeah, lots of future products. Before Samsung copies them all.

Maybe they'll sell subscriptions. No, advertising! No, they break a lot so people need to buy replacements!

Yeah, that's the ticket...

 

[nzalog]

Dammit.

Glad I found out before I bought a second Nest thermostat for upstairs and a few Protects.

To all those saying we are overreacting, think again. Do you really want Google to have access to data from devices in your house that have motion detectors?

Way to sell out and ruin a good thing.

To be fair, there was an update to the article saying something the opposite of this. However, I can imagine they find some shady way around the user agreement. They could have some software change that requires you to agree to a new contract to get the update to a new feature and so on.

 

[Rogifan]

Guessing there will be an empty spot in Apple Stores tomorrow where the Nest products once sat.

So are they buying Nest or Tony Fadell? I think that's what Google was after, not thermostat or smoke detector.

Tony Fadell is worth $3B? On what planet?

 

[flottenheimer]

Just yesterday, when I first read about the Nest fire-alarm I thought that Apple should buy them and go seriously into home-automation. Well ...

 

[KPOM]

Apple should've scooped up that one.

They probably didn't think it was worth $3.2 billion.

 

[1984]

At least they weren't bought by Samsung.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

my crystal ball doesn't picture me any future where smoke detectors and thermostats become must-have products

Does it show Tony Fadell, the Podfather, designing Android phones for Google? Or maybe some other "new" device that will be to 2016 what the iPod was to 2001?

 

[BaldiMac]

Its absurd to claim that Google's "majority market" is iOS users. Its obviously Android, I don't even need to bring in numbers here because its so plainly obvious.

Absurd? Depends on what you are looking at. Global market share isn't everything. User engagement numbers seem to favor iOS for the most part. Which is what you need to sell ads.

 

[mazz0]

Probably wouldn't be a bad idea for Apple to also invest in home automation. That's the next big thing.

I'm not sure it'll be a great area for profit though, especially if it actually does become a big thing. Seems likely we'll buy cheap, commodity hardware and apps from the App Store to manage them.

 

[KPOM]

Big miss for Apple.

It depends on what Nest is actually worth, and what Google does with it. If it takes off, then maybe it was a miss. If Google winds up writing off its investment in a few years, then it probably wasn't a mix. Apple evidently didn't think the company was worth what Google was willing to pay for it.