Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is shuffling things around over in Mountain View. The smart home device maker Nest which previously operated as an independent entity under Alphabet will now be operating under the team responsible for Google’s Home devices. Subsequently, Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz is stepping down.
Fawaz was the CEO when Nest was being reintegrated into Google. It was left alone as a separate entity under Alphabet for the past three years. According to reports, this decision will enable Google’s hardware czar Rick Osterloh to better integrate Nest’s smart home products with Google’s hardware products and software.
Fawaz isn’t leaving Google, though. He’s no longer Nest’s CEO because of the reshuffling but he’ll remain over at Google in an advisory role. Rishi Chandra will be overseeing the Nest team, he’s the vice president of product management for Google’s smart home products.
“We decided together to make these changes so we can better serve our users.” Osterloh said, adding that “Marwan led the integration planning efforts and was responsible for determining our organizational strategy, in consultation with me, Rishi and our employees.”
Despite the fact that Nest has now been brought under the Google Home team’s umbrella, the company isn’t actually planning on phasing out the Nest brand. The company’s products like thermostats and cameras will apparently retain their development cycles independent from the Google Home products.
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