Nest is headed back under the Google umbrella.
> Alphabet announced it would fold Nest back in the Google after two years of operating as a separate divsion.
You might Nest from its line of smart home devices.
Nest thermostat, Nest Nest cam.
Doorbell Nest to load.
Nest Protect.
But Google purchased the company in 2014 and parent company Alphabet spun it out from Google in 2016.
So why bring it back?
What changed?
Two words.
Google assistant.
Google says NEST is now part of its hardware team and will be part of the company's plans as it rolls out deeper integrations of its assistant in hardware.
Google's hardware chief, Rick Osterloh says, quote, all of Google's investments in machine learning and AI, they can very clearly benefit NEST products.
It just makes sense to be developing them together.
It's the natural thing to evolve to, unquote.
Don't worry though, your Nest camps and Thermostats won't become obsolete or end up left in the dust yet.
Both Osterloh and Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz insisted the reunion would supercharge Nest's mission.
I'm guessing you'll likely see Nest products in the next few years start directly integrating Google Assistant into its hardware by default.
That's exciting for you Google Assistant users out there.
I get it, but it's a little less clear what will happen to the Alexa skills currently offered for Nest product owners who prefer Amazon's voice assistant.
The battle for the smart home ecosystem is starting to heat up and that could mean leaving some people who like stringing together different types of devices out in the cold.
Nothing is set in stone, yet, though so we'll be keeping an eye on how Nest and Google plan to develop hardware going forward.
What do you think [INAUDIBLE] Google should do, continue to welcome other assistants with open arms to grab as many consumers as possible, or close the ecosystem a little bit to develop products that might work more seamlessly.
Drop your thoughts down in the comments and check out CNet.com, I'm Ashley Esqueda, Big Inhumans
