In terms of product maturity and mainstream adoption, the whole concept of smart homes still in its infancy. It is likely to stay that way, as people have fear to buy a piece of technology that will go obsolete in a short period of time.
That’s the situation buyers of Revolv’s smart home hub now find themselves in as Nest, a subsidiary of Alphabet, gets ready to end support for Revolv’s platform.
The unfortunate news for anyone who has configured a smart home around Revolv, end of support doesn’t simply mean no more security updates or patches, it’s much worse than that. When nest officially pulls the plug for the Revolv hub on May 15, 2016, the hub and all accompanying apps will completely shut off.
“Now Works with Nest is turning into something more secure, more useful and just flat-out better than anything Revolv created,” a message on Revolv’s website reads. “So we’re pouring all of our energy into Works with Nest and are incredibly excited about what we’re making. Unfortunately, that means we can’t allocate resources to Resolve anymore and we have to shut down the service.”
Revolv owners are understandably livid at the situation. However, it appears that Nest is willing to work with customers on a resolution. They tweeted regarding this.
Revolv owners, we’re here to help. Please get in touch so we can find the best solution for your needs: help@revolv.com
— Nest Support (@nestsupport) April 5, 2016
Nest also put out a statement saying, “We’ve been working with the small number of Revolv customers on a case-by-case basis since we sent out the first customer notification in February to determine the best resolution, including compensation,”
The particular move, besides being quite ominous for the company’s future, might lead Google to reconsider its investment, as it did cost the search engine giant $3.2 billion to acquire Nest Labs.
