Google paid 3 billion dollars for a thermostat company earlier this year.
It pretty much blew everyone out of the water and verified that IoT was a thing.
The NEST thermostat can tell if you are home or not (movement sensor) and the time of day etc because its ‘connected’. It hooks into your home Wifi and can call home to NEST and get updates etc.
Because its connected, you can also download an App and control it from your mobile device.
Pretty boring huh.
3 billion dollars.
You can adjust your heat while you are not home….
3 billion dollars.
Its a 300 buck thermostat you stick on your wall.
3 billion dollars.
What most people miss is that Google did not pay 3 billion for the thermostat company, they paid the money for the connected aspect of it.
Huh?
Yeah, see, imagine, if you will, that you could, with one command, turn everyones heating (or cooling) up a degree. Most people would not notice that in their homes, but wow, the power grid sure would notice.
What do you think a power company would pay for that sort of power control?
Yeah. A boatload of money.
Who are they going to pay, the homeowner with the smart thermostat or the computer company with the signal path?
Cha-ching!
Google is going to make a boatload of money on their ‘investment’.
The kick back to the homeowner? You can sign up for a program where you are happy to have Google mess with your setpoint and if the price of electricity (or gas for heating) goes up or down, Google will tweak your settings for you and thus you save money.
It’s not about the thermostat, it’s about the connectedness of it.
I told you all that, to point you to this link.
http://9to5mac.com/2014/11/17/apple-ecobee3-smart-wifi-thermostat/
Although Apple continues to offer the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect despite Google’s acquisition of the smart device company, the iPhone maker has added a competing Wi-Fi-connected smart thermostat to the lineup. Apple has recently added the Ecobee3 smart Wi-Fi thermostat to the Connected Home section of its online store. The smart thermostat, which can be controlled with an iPhone or iPad, is available for $249.95.
Its such a big deal that Apple could not leave it all to Google…. so they brought a connected thermostat company as well.
No mention of how much they paid.
