What does Nest’s shutdown of Revolv mean for the future of smart home tech?
What does Nest’s shutdown of Revolv mean for the future of smart home tech?
Nest is scrapping its Revolv smart home hubs, essentially turning the gadget — which can control your lights, smoke alarms, coffee makers, etc. — into a brick. They came with a lifetime warranty and a $300 price tag, so customers are, not surprisingly, unhappy.
Proof of how new gadgets are "rented" and not "bought". Think twice about the Cloud "advantages". @arlogilbert wrote https://t.co/KaEwuMrMnJ
— Juan C Mateus Ardila (@jcmateusa) April 6, 2016
Oh sweet, yet another shutdown by @google via @nest only this time its hardware. https://t.co/EQFc0fbRYK WTF?!! https://t.co/kCSUFN50e9
— Peter Sloan (@Petercsloan) April 6, 2016
The smart home company’s move poses a more general question about emerging consumer technology, and specifically, the growing popularity of the Internet of Things. How reliable are these products and does this shake consumer confidence in early adoption?
Let's hope that future Google cars don't suffer the same fate as Revolv/Nest IOT devices. Wake up one day and find your car doesn't work!
— Greg Price (@ObscureBug) April 6, 2016
We talked to Arlo Gilbert, who wrote a scathing blog about the shutdown, and IoT expert Evan Kaplan.
“What I would assume is that they’re moving somebody to some new piece of hardware that they’ll ask people to upgrade,” Kaplan said. “And what you’d hope in these sort of situations is the people who have the hardware would get an automatic free upgrade to whatever was coming next…that’s what you would hope.”
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