Google’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest, creator of the smart thermostat and smoke detector, caught many industry watchers by surprise.
But Google’s move to snap up one of the leading companies in the nascent field of devices that are paving the way for the “Internet of Things” is only surprising if you don’t know what Nest is all about.
See also: 5 Connected Objects to Smarten Up Your Home
For the uninitiated, Nest is a company devoted to making everyday household objects smarter through advanced design and Internet-enabled features.
Nest CEO Tony Fadell, a former Apple employee who worked on the original iPod, refers to this dynamic as “the conscious home,” an environment in which nearly every formerly mundane and passive device suddenly becomes as advanced and upgradeable as your smartphone.
Currently, the company’s two flagship devices are the Nest Thermostat ($249) and the Nest Protect ($129), a smoke and carbon-monoxide detector.

The thermostat can be remotely set via your smartphone or tablet to automatically adjust to a particular temperature. It also connects to Wi-Fi to analyze and compare the outside weather with your indoor environment in real-time. The thermostat even has a sensor with a 150-degree range to detect when you’re not home, so it can adjust the temperature accordingly, and save energy.

Nest’s smoke and carbon monoxide detector offers a similar set of Internet-control functions and color-coded alerts. It includes voice alarms, as well as the ability to control the device using hand motions. For example, when the battery is running low, the device will begin to pulse yellow; if the alarm goes off, you can wave your hands within eight feet of the device to shut it off.
As last week’s International CES showed, there are dozens of companies clamoring to snag a share of the emerging smart-appliance market. Indeed, the market is poised to grow rapidly, exceeding 24 million units by 2017, according to ABI Research.
Some recent standouts in the field include the August smart lock, Philips’ smart light bulb Hue and Samsung’s T9000 Refrigerator, but so far Nest appears to have gained the most traction. Enter: Google.
Unlike Google’s acquisition of robotics company Boston Dynamics, another next-gen hardware venture, Nest is bleeding-edge tech that is available as a mainstream product right now — not 20 years from now. In that respect, the Nest acquisition is far more similar to Google's recent $12 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility.
But while that deal may have helped better position Google within the highly competitive and fragmented mobile-device space, the Nest acquisition immediately puts Google in the lead position in the emergent category of smart appliances for the home. The company has yet to reveal its sales numbers, but according to some reports, Nest is shipping up to 50,000 smart devices per month.
Following news of the acquisition, several industry observers jokingly speculated about what the acquisition will mean for Nest.
Google turns up the heat: Bought an iPhone? Google will set your Nest thermostat to 144 degrees.
— Lisa Gade (@lisagade) January 13, 2014
Waze + Nest: As I'm driving home, my Nest turns on my heat when I'm 5 miles away. #google
— Mark Suman (@marksuman) January 13, 2014
Will you have to log into Google+ to activate your smoke alarm? Will audio versions of Google’s paid search advertisements blare throughout your home via the speaker of your carbon-monoxide detector? Some are even wondering if you’ll be able to use the voice-control functions in Google Now to turn your heat or air conditioning on via the device.
Google’s statement announcing the deal indicates that Nest will continue to operate as a separate and distinct company under the leadership of Fadell, hinting that many of the aforementioned fears may be overblown.
However, it’s a sign of just how powerful a combination Google’s software and Nest’s hardware represents when even casual observers can imagine such scenarios that, in reality, would not be that difficult to execute on Google’s part.
If, in the future, Google does decide to integrate its powerful data-crunching powers with Nest’s well-designed hardware, the lure of such data-rich, smart home appliances just might be too tempting for many to resist — despite possible privacy implications.
And although Google is currently engaged in a good deal of bleeding-edge research as it bets on the future, its acquisition of Nest is not about experimentation — it's about the next frontier that's right at your fingertips: home.
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Image: Nest