A Google SEC filing revealed that the company plans to deliver ads to more devices, including thermostats, refrigerators and other appliances, suggesting that Google’s Nest could soon show commercial to product buyers, even though the company pledged not to display ads on its products in the future, following the Google purchase. After ad-related details about Google’s SEC document were published, Nest’s co-founder said that the Nest thermostat will not get ads, just as previously stated, Re/code reports.
“Nest is being run independently from the rest of Google, with a separate management team, brand and culture,” Fadell said. “For example, Nest has a paid-for business model, while Google has generally had an ads-supported business model. We have nothing against ads — after all Nest does lots of advertising. We just don’t think ads are right for the Nest user experience.”
The SEC document was filed before the Nest purchase, which explains Google’s wording: “a few years from now, we and other companies could be serving ads and other content on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities.” However, the two parties have negotiated the deal quite a while, so Google may still have advertising plans for Nest’s future, no matter what Nest’s CEO says.
Google also commented on its December SEC filing, saying that it wants to correct it. “We are in contact with the SEC to clarify the language in this 2013 filing, which does not reflect Google’s product roadmap. Nest, which we acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has never had any such plans,” the company said.
