Google Smart Device Division Nest Merged with Its Home Team to Strengthen Smart Home R&D
Marwan Fawaz's departure as CEO of Nest is yet another shake-up in the Google-owned smart home company's short history.
Marwan Fawaz, Ex-CEO of Google Smart Device Division Nest
On July 18th, Beijing time, five months after Alphabet, a smart home equipment manufacturer owned by Alphabet, re-incorporated into Google, Google announced on Tuesday that Marwan Fawaz would no longer be the Nest CEO. Google also said that Nest will merge with Google's home and living room product teams.
The Google family and living room product team is led by Rishi Chandra, who is vice president of product management at Google. In the future, Nest employees will report to Chandra.
This will make collaboration between Google's smart home devices easier, taking advantage of Google's expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
About Nest
Nest was founded in 2011 by Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, two former Apple employees who worked on products like the iPad and the iPhone. Fadell, Nest's first CEO, transitioned to an advisory position at Google's parent company, Alphabet, in 2016 and later left the company entirely. Matt Rogers left Nest in 2018.
Nest Thermostat
Nest now offers 10 distinct smart home products.
Nest was at one point the poster child for the entire smart home category, but with little diversity in its product line-up, the company rightly caught flack for failing to capitalize on its early momentum with more devices.
Nest might not have the same breadth of platforms like Apple's HomeKit or Samsung's SmartThings that work with gadgets from all kinds of third party device makers, but Nest has hit all the major smart home sub-categories with its current line-up, and they all work together more-or-less seamlessly via the Nest app. Apple and Samsung can't say the same.
(Source: JJGLE.COM)