When Google announced on May 7 that it was moving its smart home devices under a new Google Nest brand, it was a historic pivot in the company's product strategy. It is more than a brand game. Google decided it was time to say goodbye to the smart home and say hello to what it calls the "useful home." See also: What is a smart home? Now that the announcement has had time to materialize, it's worth taking a closer look: When Google planted the smart home flag Google bought Nest - name, people and technology - for €3,2 billion in early 2014 . Analysts hailed it as a bold move. The world's best-known technology company was becoming a player in a smart home market that is expected to grow by billions of dollars over the next decade. And all he needed was about 5% of his cash reserves, which was pretty much a cushion of money for Google. But the crystal ball was a bit cloudy. Would Google use its enormous power to push Nest to greater heights of innovation and reinvention? Or are you struggling to find a strategy in an "Internet of Things" that is just beginning to mature? There's no question that Google's acquisition of Nest was a game changer. But it was a surprisingly turbulent race to reach what appears to be the final destination. See Also: These Are The 10 Most Valuable Tech Brands Alexa Says Hello When Google bought Nest, there was a lot of pressure coming from another tech giant. Amazon introduced Echo, the now-ubiquitous smart speaker that includes Alexa. For the first time, a smart home device could play music, answer questions, create to-do lists, and even order pizza. It was a small step in the development of artificial intelligence, but it developed at a rapid pace over the next two years. This gave Amazon a decisive advantage in the smart home war. Going nowhere, slowly Meanwhile, Google's smart home efforts have been mired in the mud with disagreements over product development and business strategy, as well as the departure of key Nest executives. When Google finally responded to the Echo in 2016 with its voice-activated speaker/smart assistant, the Nest brand was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was called Google Home. Living separate lives Nest also stood out from Google, with slower-than-expected product development. It continued to develop new versions of its flagship Nest Learning Thermostat and released its second product, the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector in 2013. Next up is the Nest Cam security camera in 2015 (thanks in large part to a € 555 million purchase from Dropcam), followed by the launch of a high-end Nest Cam IQ in 2017. Nest Dives Into Home Security The brand finally got some serious traction in September 2017 with the launch of the Nest Secure home security alarm system, a professionally monitored DIY system from Brinks Home Security. This was quickly followed in 2018 by the Nest Hello video doorbell and Nest X Yale lock. But the question remained: why would a company, even with the size and power of Google's brand, create smart home products without leveraging Nest as the best-known smart home brand? One brand is better than two Fast forward to the Google I/O 2019 conference. Nest had been treated as a separate entity until it became part of Google's smart home division in 2017. This paved the way for the unification of all of Google's smart home technology into one family of products under the Google Nest brand. Google took longer to find its way with the Nest brand. On the other hand, companies worth nearly €1 trillion can afford to kick their feet on occasion. But is the marriage of the two brands the right decision at the right time? Making up for lost time As of January 2019, Amazon Echo, Dot, and related Alexa devices control about 61% of the US market, according to voicebot.ai, Google Home and its related devices have gradually gained ground to a market share. 24%. These numbers represent a market share loss for Amazon of nearly 11% from a year earlier, while Google Home grew by around 5,5%. For a company already building a smart home dynamic, rebranding Google Nest isn't just the best way to keep up. It will probably be an effective booster rocket. The way forward Rishi Chandra, Google Nest's vice president of products and general manager, has a clear vision of the strategic landscape of its smart home devices. "The wallet will be called Google Nest, just like (the smartphone wallet) Google Pixel," Chandra recently told Fast Company. "We're aligning the Pixel with mobility and the Nest will be at home." When it comes to new products, Chandra said, the goal for now will be to give new products a Nest identity. Other products like Google Home and Google Home Mini will gradually receive the new branding. "These things are never instantaneous," Chandra added. Rebrand, then revolution In an interview with The Verge, Chandra said the rebrand was more than just a name change. This is the next step in the evolution of IT and technology: No User Required Until now, interacting with a computer generally required a user. Whether you use social media or send an email, it requires action on your part. Environmental computing does not require active participation. The Nest Learning Thermostat is a prime example. Learn more about their environment, their lifestyle, and even the seasons. You can control it manually, but it can be adjusted automatically without your intervention. The most sophisticated examples are smart speakers and virtual assistants. They recognize and learn, then adapt accordingly to provide the optimal response or action. Separate Devices, One Ecosystem If that sounds a bit confusing... well it is. Chandra told The Verge that smart home devices will be proactive, learning from a user's behaviors or even facial recognition, all working together in a single ecosystem. “There isn't a single device that makes your home smart,” Chandra said. “Each device has different types of sensors, inputs and outputs, and capabilities. But from the user's point of view it should give the impression that it was conceived as a single system design that works together. And that's where the name change comes in. Chandra said the challenge is "to bring our products and assets together to really solve the next generation of computing that we need to bring home." That's what really motivated this push to bring Nest and Home together: to think about it in a very different way. " Robert Ogle is a writer and editor with seven years of experience in the home security industry. He is currently a Senior Editor at Brinks Home Security and was previously the Editor-in-Chief of Security Nation Magazine for the Electronic Security Association. Robert also focuses on smart home technology trends, as well as the impact of disruptive innovation.