Apple has recently removed the Nest Smart Thermostat from its online store. This change was first spotted on Apple’s store by Fortune, which reported on Wednesday that all Nest products were no longer for sale. When you visit the Apple website and use the text autofill options to search for “Nest Protect” or the “Nest Learning Thermostat” shows in the Online Apple Store’s quick search bar are nowhere to be found on Apple’s website.
NEST smart thermostat HAs BEEN REMOVED FROM ALL APPLE STORES
A Nest spokesperson reported saying that Apple is a valued partner to Nest and that their new products will be available to Apple and other retailers within the next few weeks. They also added that Apple’s plans included stocking only the Nest Protect and the Nest Cam (formerly known as the Dropcam), but not the Learning Thermostat.
In another report on Thursday, there was even more confirmation of the product’s removal. An Apple spokesperson was reported saying that it removed Nest’s connecter thermostat from both online stores and traditional brick-and-mortar locations earlier in July. This is the second time that Apple has stopped selling Nest’s devices. This most recent halt is considered to be permanent.
APPLE HAS MADE ITS WAY INTO THE SMART HOME ARENA
The Apple Store was one of Nest’s first promoters and began stocking Nest nest smart thermostat products as an exclusive partner in 2012. Since then, Apple has made it into the smart home space with HomeKit. HomeKit is an iOS-based framework for controlling “Internet of Things” devices. Earlier this month, Apple Stores started selling one of the world’s first HomeKit-enabled thermostats, Ecobee3.
Nest Labs was cofounded by one of Apple’s former executives Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers. Fadell was considered by some to be the “godfather of the iPod” and would later go on to recruit a lot of employee from Apple’s talent pool. Nest was ultimately sold to Google in 2013 for $3.2 billion.
NEST PRODUCTS NOT HOMEKIT COMPATIBLE
Nest smart thermostat products are not compatible with HomeKit, they have the capability to work with iOS and he firm counts a number of iPhone owners as users among its customer base. Most recently, Google announced a competition IoT platform, known as Brillo, which was developed with assistance from the Nest team.