Google is in the midst of an important evolution that will have consequences in its entire range of products; It is evident that the company wants to unify all its devices and services, although that affects very popular brands such as Fitbit or Nest. These changes can be controversial, but Google expects them to allow you to offer a unique more attractive platform for the user.
Now we are going to see one of the most important consequences of this policy change, with the end of two Google products for the smart home. Specifically, we talk about Google Nest Protect and Nest X Yale Lock, which are going to be discontinued and will soon disappear from the official Google store; The good news is that, at the same time, the Google Home platform will be more open for third parties.
Recall that Google bought Nest in 2014, one of the most important and expensive acquisitions in its history with a price of 3.4 billion dollars. Thanks to this, Google got fully into a sector in which it had hardly any presence, that of home automation and intelligent home, with leading and very useful devices. One of the most popular is the Nest Protect, a smoke and carbon monoxide detector that is installed on the roof and is able to send alarms to the user when it detects possible problems such as slow combustion fires or possible leaks.
Google has confirmed that has stopped manufacturing the Nest Protect; Therefore, the company will stop selling it once stocks are exhausted, although it is not clear how many units are left. In the Google store in Spain, the Nest Protect seems to have already been exhausted, and although technically continues for sale (with a reduction that leaves it at 119 euros), the purchase button has been changed by a button to receive notifications, indicating that there are no units in stocks right now.
In the same way, the Google Nest Protect appears as “not available” in Amazon Spain, although in other countries such as France it is still sold. Therefore, there is always the possibility that some units remain, and if we are interested, it is advisable to sign up for notifications, although It is better not to hope.
The good news is that Google has confirmed that You will not abandon Nest Protect usersand the device will continue to function as always; There is only one change, and now users will have to use the Google Home app instead of the Nest app to configure their device and receive the alerts. To do this, the Google Home app will be updated in the coming weeks, and users will receive a notification to make migration.
In addition to Nest Protect, Google has confirmed that The intelligent nest x yale lock lock has also been discontinued; However, this decision will affect less consumers, since this device was not available in Spain or in many other countries. As with the Nest Protect, Google will continue to support this lock through the Google Home app, integrating functions such as password management that it still did not have.
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Although the decision to discourage these devices may seem an indication that Google is going to leave the intelligent home sector, in reality the company states the opposite, and that it is only a policy change to open the Google Home platform to more manufacturers. As part of this change, Google has announced the launch of two new Google Home devices that replace those who have discontinued, but that have been manufactured by third parties. They are not yet for sale, but they will be launched over the coming months.
On the one hand, the detector First Alert Smart Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm It is a device very similar to Nest Protect, both in design and functionalities, but is completely integrated into Google Home. That allows offering functions such as the connected alarm, which sounds on all devices at the same time as one detects a problem. In the same way, the new Yale Smart Lock lock will be released this summer and is very similar to the Nest X Yale, but now it offers connectivity with the new Matter standard and complete integration with Google Home.
