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Google might fold Nest back into the Google, well, fold. The company is considering integrating Nest, which is a separate company under mutual parent Alphabet at the moment, back into Google’s hardware business.
The re-integration, first reported by Wall Street Journal, is a move that Google is considering as a way to help it build out its smart home capabilities vs. Amazon, which is expanding its hardware offerings in that regard. Nest’s lineup works with Google Assistant, but also with Amazon’s Alexa; bringing it back into Google’s core hardware team could help develop better integration with Assistant and the company’s other mobile and networking devices, building a more extensive competitive hedge.
Now that Google is developing out its Google hardware business in earnest, it also makes a bunch of sense to bring this together in terms of branding and making sure that consumers are clear about the relationships and advantages inherent in Google’s growing device ecosystem.
This is still just a move that’s being considered, per this report, and not something final – but it’s hard to see what the big advantages are at this stage in terms of keeping Google and Nest distinct, especially with Google’s focus on Pixel, its Wi-Fi products and Google Home along with its Assistant companion.
