Nest's Tony Fadell says it's 'up to Apple' if company wants to keep ties following Google buyout

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  • Reply 61 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by semi_guy View Post



    Father of iPod...Uf, the original circuit boards came from PortalPlayer. Tony just brought that design to Apple and sold it to them. Apple took it and changed it all around... By the way, many companies were bringing Apple hard disk based MP3 player designs at the time. PortalPlayer strength was the operating system which was later replaced by Apple.

    The moniker "Father of the iPod" has been widely used to describe Fadell for many years, long before he got involved at Nest. See for example:

    http://macdailynews.com/2013/07/24/tony-fadell-father-of-the-ipod-from-apple-to-nest-labs-always-a-designer/

    http://www.cultofmac.com/125838/the-father-of-the-ipod-has-invented-the-smartest-coolest-thermostat-youll-ever-see/

    http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-ipod-iphone-senior-vp-fadell-out-replaced-by-ibms-papermaster/

  • Reply 62 of 89
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    One reason is Googles privacy adversion is counter to Apple's policies. To sell a google product in their stores after knowing what the did to go around the security in Safari would make the complicit.
  • Reply 63 of 89
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    So where's the definitive statement from 'Mr. all things in Google are wonderful', Gatorgay on this subject? I can't wait to hear what the actual facts are.

    Do I need a /s ...??
  • Reply 64 of 89
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    starxd wrote: »
    I don't understand this thinking at all.  Google and Apple don't compete in thermostats and smoke detectors.  Why on earth would the Google acquisition cause Apple to throw Nest out of its stores?  Of course if future Nest offerings are made more Android-centric, that's a different story, but at this point, it would be petty and short-sighted of Apple to discontinue selling Nest products, and I doubt they have any plans to.  

    I agree, I am sure Apple sell in their store many products from various vendors that also work with Assdroid products too. However, I have put duct tape over my Nest's camera and changed my WiFi password which is something I don't feel the need to do for other products that work on Apple and Assdroid. I wonder what the difference is? :D
  • Reply 65 of 89
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    d4njvrzf wrote: »

    Steve is the father of all things Apple pre his departure from us.. Others were simply his little helpers.
  • Reply 66 of 89
    Nest did have pottial yet now google is going to make everything downgraded to match its products correctly.
  • Reply 67 of 89

    "Nest has no plans to pull its products from Apple's retail stores or abandon iOS support for its devices, Fadell said." That may be Tony's intention however, Google has historically purchased companies & abruptly ended service for long-time Apple products & consumers. I expect Tony to be told soon to say to his Apple customers, 'Thank you for your years of support, but we're headed in a new direction.'

     

    If Google adds microphones to the Nest/Protect smoke detectors to listen for the "sound of fire", they might 'inadvertently' have the following problem:         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5D578JmHdU

  • Reply 68 of 89
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,885member
    starxd wrote: »
    Wow.  Comments like this, and others shouting that "it's just a thermostat" are SO short-sighted.  This is Google's entree into the connected home, which is probably the next biggest growth area of consumer electronics and technology.  All you're doing is looking at what Nest is today, and not imagining what it could be in the future.  Thank goodness Google's leaders (the "three stooges" as you call them) have more vision than you do.   

    Find me someone who will assert with a straight face that the 13.3 billion used to acquire Motorola was money well spent. Google appears to have acquired the reputation of either being profligate with their money or an easy touch. I'm not saying Nest Labs is a garbage acquisition, I'm saying Google seems to have grossly overpaid for it. They were probably a little too eager at the negotiating table talking turkey with a guy who watched Steve Jobs operate in person and up close several years.
  • Reply 69 of 89
    Looks like Fadell is already bowing to his overlords.
  • Reply 70 of 89
    The thermostat is just a wifi connected device. Nothing special there. It has no connection to the heating and air conditioning system, which is required to make such a device useful. The Nest thermostat has no long term future.

    Unless Google is aiming to control embedded hardware and software which appliance manufacturers will incorporate into their appliances, companies like Nest have a limited future.
  • Reply 71 of 89
    I'm picturing Google collecting data from thousands of users with Nest thermostats and selling the info. Let's see.... You set it down a lot at night--sell the data to makers of down comforters... You keep the thermostat high..sell the data to companies selling energy efficient furnaces.

    There's lots you can do if you can get this info tied to an address.
  • Reply 72 of 89
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member

    Cisco (and others) say the Internet of Things is worth $19 trillion over the next couple of decades.  Nest is part of that and Google wants to be at the center of it all.

  • Reply 73 of 89
    doxxicdoxxic Posts: 100member
    What makes Google buying Nest newsworthy beyond the Apple-Google thing, is that it confirms widely held suspicions about smart thermostats uncontrolably sharing private data.

    So the ecosystem it belongs to becomes a factor when you buy one.

    Which do you trust? Your power supplier's smart thermostat? Google's? A future product by Apple? Is such a thing *really* going to save you enough money and headaches?

    I think in the end both Google and power suppliers will offer smart thermostats for free, just like Android is free and devices running it are cheap. If you want to keep your privacy you will have to buy your own stuff.

    First, Nest was for the people who were willing to pay for a top user experience, now they belong to Google.

    This means that they went out of Apple's public, leaving room for a new Apple product or an independent smart thermostat maker.

    I can understand the disappointment about Fadell, because he is placing Nest in a context where it's intended added value (user experience) is not what earns it's money. That will be the data it shares. Design will only be an excuse for asking the rich a bit too much. It will not anymore be the essence.

    It does hurt Apple when one of their heroes goes this way.
  • Reply 74 of 89
    ezhikezhik Posts: 101member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Frood View Post

     

    Nest, the awesome, innovative, amazing self learning thermostat with elegant design features as you'd expect from former Apple executives.....

     

    *breaking news*

     

    Wait. What?  Bought by Google?!

     

    *Attention AI fans, Nest is now the enemy.  Attack!*




    We've always been at war with Eastasia.

  • Reply 75 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by old-wiz View Post



    I'm picturing Google collecting data from thousands of users with Nest thermostats and selling the info. Let's see.... You set it down a lot at night--sell the data to makers of down comforters... You keep the thermostat high..sell the data to companies selling energy efficient furnaces.



    There's lots you can do if you can get this info tied to an address.

     

    I seriously don't understand where this idea comes from. I'm no Google employee but even I can tell that taking data on your customers and then selling that directly to your other customers is a pretty stupid thing to do.

     

    Instead what they do is hold on to that data and use their algorithms to match the seller's advertiser to the customer. They don't sell your data, they sell the potential of your views.

  • Reply 76 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ItsTheInternet View Post

     

     

    I seriously don't understand where this idea comes from. I'm no Google employee but even I can tell that taking data on your customers and then selling that directly to your other customers is a pretty stupid thing to do.

     

    Instead what they do is hold on to that data and use their algorithms to match the seller's advertiser to the customer. They don't sell your data, they sell the potential of your views.


    I was being a bit sarcastic and snippy.

  • Reply 77 of 89
    sully54sully54 Posts: 108member
    Mr. Fadell is sorely mistaken if he thinks that google with let them operate more or less independently. Why would a company invest billions of dollars only so that can leave it be?

    What's more likely to happen is that google will initially let nest operate with minimal interference. Let Fadell get comfortable for a few years and them one day, BAM! Google says "do this, this and this, or we show you the exit and you have to give us back our initial investment." Of course Fadell will have no choice but to comply since Nest, which has already since grown with the infusion of cash google has provided, will definitely not survive without google.

    I think startups could learn a thing or two from snapchat, which has already repeatedly turned down offers of billions from Zuckerberg.

    As far as apple dropping Nest from its stores, nothing could be more damaging for Nest really. That's the kind of exposure Nest can't afford to lose. I mean, sure, nest thermostats are sold in Home Depot, but no one really goes into Home Depot looking to buy a $250 thermostat. Fadell may be good at hiding it but he's quaking in his boots.
  • Reply 78 of 89
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    sully54 wrote: »
    Mr. Fadell is sorely mistaken if he thinks that google with let them operate more or less independently. Why would a company invest billions of dollars only so that can leave it be?

    What's more likely to happen is that google will initially let nest operate with minimal interference. Let Fadell get comfortable for a few years and them one day, BAM! Google says "do this, this and this, or we show you the exit and you have to give us back our initial investment." Of course Fadell will have no choice but to comply since Nest, which has already since grown with the infusion of cash google has provided, will definitely not survive without google.

    I think startups could learn a thing or two from snapchat, which has already repeatedly turned down offers of billions from Zuckerberg.

    As far as apple dropping Nest from its stores, nothing could be more damaging for Nest really. That's the kind of exposure Nest can't afford to lose. I mean, sure, nest thermostats are sold in Home Depot, but no one really goes into Home Depot looking to buy a $250 thermostat. Fadell may be good at hiding it but he's quaking in his boots.

    Quaking in his very rich boots bought on the proceeds of whatever percent of that $3.5B sale he garnered. Sure he is. We'd all be a bit distraught.
  • Reply 79 of 89
    Like everything else with Apple product, someone take the idea from somebody else and marketed it differently.

    Tony Fadell take the idea of the Walkman to do the iPod and it take the idea of Honeywell thermostat to do the Nest thermostat.

    Google has been buying the guy, not the company. A bright man who can steal ideas of others without remorse. Google evaluated this guy to 3 billions. The real value of Nest company is about 400 millions.

    And for removing Nest product from the Apple store it would please to Google since they would replace the Apple software used by Nest with Android software.
  • Reply 80 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by old-wiz View Post

     

    I was being a bit sarcastic and snippy.


     

    Sorry about that, I've only been here a few days but even facts I thought weren't contentious at all are being screamed at. Hope I didn't come across as a dick.

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