Google buys maker of smart thermostats and alarms - El Universal (Venezuela)

New York -. Google will pay 3.200 million to buy Nest Labs, a manufacturer that develops high-tech versions of thermostats and smoke detectors, in what constituted the second largest acquisition in its history.

The deal is the largest since Google completed the purchase of Motorola in May 2012, 12,500 million, corroborated App

The analyst Shyam Patil, the firm Wedbush Securities, said that Google is positioning itself to offer products that work with “Internet of Things” (the” Internet of things”), specifically with homes full of smart wireless devices that collect data are connected to the Internet and can be controlled with a smartphone.

“Internet of things” is a global network that not only connects computers, tablets and phones, but connects with all sorts of items, from thermostats to bicycles and washing machines. Last year, Google introduced Chromecast, a device that allows users to connect their TVs and mobile devices.

giant Internet search was one of the first investors in Nest. He argued that the Nest Learning Thermostat (smart thermostat Nest) device company has consistently been a sales success.

Thermostat, which costs $ 249, detects how the inhabitants like heat or cool their homes depending on the season. Once the unit “learns” the user preferences and automatically adjusts these temperatures.

Another product of the company, the alarm Protect Nest, aims to be more comfortable than traditional smoke alarms that sometimes sound unnecessarily, when the new computer detects a dangerous level of smoke or carbon monoxide, yellow lights and played a human voice that allows users the option to turn off the device if there is an emergency The product allows. alert the user simply stop waving his arm. Protect The Nest costs $ 129, compared with a smoke detector and carbon monoxide traditional, costing between 50 and 80 dollars.

Acquiring Nest Labs by Google “is a great market opportunity and gives Google a good technology to be advanced with the passage of time,” Patil said in a telephone interview. The analyst said that maintains its rating on shares of Google in “ neutral.”

Nest Labs is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It was founded in 2010 by Tony Fadell, a guru of gadgets that while working at Apple helped design the iPod and the original iPhone.