Google, which dominates much of life on the Internet, has been trying to expand beyond computers and telephones to living rooms, cars and bodies, Claire Cain Miller reports. It made its way a bit further into people’s homes on Monday when it agreed to pay $3.2 billion in cash for Nest Labs, which makes Internet-connected devices like thermostats and smoke alarms.
Nest, which was started in 2010 by Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, members of the teams that built the iPhone and iPod at Apple, will continue to operate independently under its own brand and expand its portfolio of connected versions of what it calls “unloved but important devices in the home.”
Internet companies are vying to be the gateway through which people live every aspect of their lives — whether searching, socializing, reading, shopping, exercising or sleeping. Their businesses, particularly advertising, are built on watching the way people behave online. For Google, gaining visibility into people’s habits beyond computers and phones — whether watching television using Chromecast, taking a walk wearing Google Glass or managing their homes using Nest products — will provide a fuller picture of users.
“Google likes to know everything they can about us, so I suppose devices that are monitoring what’s going on in our homes is another excellent way for them to gather that information,” said Danny Sullivan, a longtime Google analyst and a founding editor of Search Engine Land. “The more they’re tied into our everyday life, the more they feel they can deliver products we’ll like and ads.” Read more »