In the past decade and a half, Google’s smart home strategy has seen many false starts. From the early 2010 version of Google TV to the ill-fated Nexus Q, everything was funky and experimental. Then Google Assistant and the first Google Home smart speaker launched, and it seemed the company finally understood what smart homes were all about. It’s starting to feel like another episode of Google’s messaging app problems after seven or eight years of twists and turns.
Google has changed its mind a lot over the years about smart homes. First it tried Google TV but that did not work well. Then it tried Nexus Q but stopped that too. After that it launched Google Assistant and Google Home speaker. This made it seem like Google finally knew what it wanted to do with smart homes.
But since then Google has changed its plans many times. Just like how it changed its messaging apps many times too. Google started with many ideas for Google Assistant but got rid of most of them. It does not work the same way on different smart devices anymore. And it does not work as well as it used to.
Google has also changed its smart home devices many times. It bought Nest but then changed the names of Nest products. Its smart displays and speakers used to do more but now do less. Google even stopped supporting devices made by other companies for smart homes.
People who bought Google’s smart home products are not happy. Every product loses features over time. Google also made changes to how its apps work that removed features from devices. They do not trust that Google will not remove more features later.
It seems Google does not have a clear long term plan for smart homes like it does for Search, Maps or Photos. It tries new things but does not improve or keep them. This confuses people about what Google’s smart home vision really is.
While things are more focused now, it may be too late for Google to become the leader. Apple is also joining the smart home standard so there is still hope. But Google needs a clear strategy and to listen to users to succeed in the future of smart homes.
