Nest is done as a standalone Alphabet company, merges with Google

(credit: Nest)

There's a shakeup at Nest today, as was previously rumored back in November, Google just announced Nest will change from a standalone Alphabet company to merging with the Google hardware team. The current Nest CEO, Marwan Fawaz, will report to Google Hardware SVP Rick Osterloh.

Nest has struggled since its was purchased by Google/Alphabet in 2014. Under Google, Nest was given a huge influx of resources which it used to quadruple its employee headcount and purchase Dropcam, but all these extra resources didn't result in new or improved products. Nest's CEO and co-founder, Tony Fadell, left the company two years after the acquisition, at which point Nest's only "new" product under Google was a rebranded Dropcam.

Once the current Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz took over, Nest finally started to push some new products out the door. It launched the very expensive $300 Nest Cam IQ, and the even more expensive Nest Secure home security system, which runs $500 for a starter pack. And that's not the end of the costs: both work best with a monthly subscription fee. On the cheaper side of things, it launched the Nest Thermostat E, a plastic version of its famous thermostat. There's also plans for a "Nest Hello" doorbell sometime in 2018. Google's post mentions that Nest sold "more devices in 2017 than the previous two years combined."