The Verge’s report that Google is shutting down “Works with Nest” feels like a plot twist in a story that was already hard to follow. The smart home promised simplicity – lights that greet you, thermostats that learn you, locks that obey you. Instead, we got a soap opera starring incompatible protocols and devices that only talk to the friends they approve of.
“Works with Nest” was one of the few bridges that actually made things less painful. Losing it means more fragmentation, more app juggling, and more conversations with your spouse that start with, “No, the lights aren’t broken, it’s just the integration again.”
It’s a reminder that the smart home still behaves like a college group project: lots of potential, very little alignment. Google wants everything to live inside its ecosystem, and while the long-term vision might be cleaner, the transition period feels like being told your universal remote is no longer universal.
If the smart home is ever going to move beyond early adopters, can the big players stop rearranging the puzzle pieces long enough to finish the picture? And how patient are consumers willing to be while the industry keeps reshuffling?
Related article: The Verge
