Big news on Monday as Google scooped up Nest, maker of snazzy thermostats. No, really. Snazzy thermostats are all the rage.
So, congratulations to Google! Meanwhile, Nest owners can all look forward to having to remember to log out of Google+ on their thermostats before they change their temperature settings, or everyone will see them. Well, “everyone” being the 20 or so Google employees actively using Google+.
But who’s the big loser here? Can you guess? Can you? Sure you can.
Writing for PandoDaily, Carmel Deamicis and Michael Carney say “While Nest and Google are popping champagne, plenty of others should be concerned” (tip o’ the antlers to Jon Seff).
If you said Apple was the big loser, you win absolutely nothing because duh, of course it’s Apple.
As a fellow tech giant in the space, the company has been chugging along without much news (Apple iPhone 5S and iOS 7 aside) since the passing of Steve Jobs.
Other than Apple’s big news, it’s had virtually no big news!
Of course, the iPhone 5s and iOS 7 aren’t the only Apple news since Jobs died—the new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks, iPhone 5, iPad mini, etc.—but, you know, whatever. It’s almost like it was two things, which is almost like it was nothing.
Many have posed questions about whether the tech empire is on the decline, unable to produce revolutionary products without Jobs’ guidance.
That might as well read: “Many have consumed paste.”
But [Nest]’s a company that would also have made a perfect addition to Apple’s product list.
Would it? The truth of the matter is that the reason it seems so Apple-like is exactly why Apple doesn’t need it. Even CNet sees that.
“Nest is about design,” said Jonathan Gaw, an analyst at IDC, a research firm. “The technology is nice, but it’s not necessarily groundbreaking. If you’re Apple, you’re thinking, ‘Well, I’ve got design.’”
Exactly. What is it that Nest has that Apple couldn’t make for significantly less than $3.2 billion? The guy that used to work for them?
After all, the Nest thermostat and smoke detector were designed by Tony Faddell, one of the “fathers of the iPod.”
There’s no doubting that Faddell’s a smart guy and he makes Google better, but that doesn’t mean that Apple missed out by not snapping him up at the cost of billions of dollars. Apple would be better off acquiring a company that complements its weaknesses, not its strengths.
But, then, we couldn’t make this all about Apple. And that’s what’s important.