When Google acquired Nest earlier this year, we knew the justification would be multifaceted. Not only was Google picking up one of the hottest smart home properties in the industry, the search giant was also absorbing a very talented team of designers, including Tony Fadell, the CEO of Nest and a man who oversaw the development of the iPod. Now, just five months later, The Information is reporting that Fadell “owns” the consumer hardware division at Google.
Senior VP Sundar Pichai apparently “dismantled almost all of the Android team’s hardware initiatives” in order to give Fadell the freedom he needed to make the division his own. As The Verge notes, there’s no telling how many initiatives there actually were to dismantle considering Google’s relatively scant hardware offerings.
Motorola is no longer a Google company (or at least it won’t be in the near future). In fact, the Chromebook Pixel and the Chromecast are the only two products made in-house at Google. Fadell has been given about as clean of a slate as he could have hoped for at his new workplace. Along with Google’s myriad platforms, from Android and Project Ara to the upcoming Android Wear, Fadell should have plenty to toy with as he starts what could be a new hardware empire under the Google banner.
