Nest reportedly working on cheaper thermostat and new home security system

Nest may finally have some new products in the works. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Alphabet-owned company is working on a slate of new connected products, including a home security system, a smart doorbell, an updated version of the indoor Nest Cam, and a cheaper version of its popular smart thermostat. 

The most interesting of these is the home security system, which Nest has actually been rumored to be working on since last May. According to Bloomberg, the system could consist of a central keypad hub, alarm sensors for doors and windows, and a key fob to easily activate and deactivate the alarm. And like all of Nest’s products, users would be able to control the entire security system through a connected phone app.

Another new product is a smart doorbell, which would feature a camera to allow owners to communicate with visitors through a connected app, according to the report — it sounds a lot like Ring. Unlike the security system, which Nest is said to be readying for sometime this year, the smart doorbell isn’t expected to launch until 2018.

As for the new thermostat, Bloomberg’s source claims that it will cost under $200, which could mark a fairly significant price cut off of the current price of $249. Nest is also said to be working on new sensors to pair with its smart thermostat to allow for temperature control on a room-by-room basis.

Any new hardware efforts are major news from Nest, which hasn’t released a wholly new product since the Nest Protect smoke detector in 2013. It did move into the security camera market back in 2015, with the Nest Cam, but that was largely a reworking of the Dropcam product is was based on. Nest’s biggest release since has been last year’s waterproof version of the camera, called the Nest Cam Outdoor.

While it can be argued that Nest pioneered the mass-market connected thermostat, in recent years it’s been challenged by competition in the space from companies like Ecobee and Honeywell. And though Nest has expanded to other product categories in the time since, its growth hasn’t been helped by minor iterative updates that give existing owners little reason to upgrade. While Nest itself refutes that notion — citing a year over year growth of over 50 percent as of June 2016— the reports of expansion to new product categories is still good to hear.

The article was published on : theverge