Nest Renews Its Focus on the Environment
Google has announced its Nest Renew program, designed to look at the times of the day when the electricity feeding into your home is cleaner – and turn the Nest thermostats on or off accordingly. For example, the thermostat could start cooling earlier in the day when solar energy is more available. In addition to automatic adjustments for the thermostats, Nest Renew will provide monthly reports that display when the electricity coming in is cleaner and greener (so that you could choose to do the laundry, for example, at that time). Renew arrives in a by-invitation preview in the coming weeks and will be available for free in the continental US when it launches publicly.
The NPD Take:
- For consumers who pride themselves on being environmentally conscious, and also want to save a buck or two, this opt-in program (which can also be overridden if you don’t agree with your thermostats behavior) is a great addition. For Google, this positions them as being sustainability-minded, an important position for corporations to hold as reducing the carbon footprint and saving the environment has become a hot button topic.
Arlo Adds – and Takes Away From – Customer Benefits
Arlo has upgraded its Google Assistant integration with support for spoken alerts on Nest speakers and smart displays. When an Arlo camera detects people, packages, animals, or cars, the speakers and displays will now announce the alerts. The functionality works with most Arlo cameras…if they are part of an Arlo subscription plan. The Arlo Doorbell will also send spoken alerts to speakers and displays if the doorbell is rung but does not have the spoken motion alerts. On the flip side, Arlo is taking away live customer service for those who do not subscribe to an Arlo Secure plan. After 90 days, phone support goes away, and after one year, live chat also disappears, leaving customers with only a virtual assistant or the public Arlo support forums.
The NPD Take:
- The new Assistant integration is a great example of the role that smart speakers and displays can play in the smart home. The pulling away of customer service is not what the industry needs…particularly at the same time it is seeking ways to appeal to the “next generation” of smart home consumers – who may very well be less tech savvy and need that very customer service that Arlo is taking away (without subscription).