Nest will launch its smart thermostat and smoke detector in parts of Europe in late September. During a presentation at the IFA 2014 tech conference in Berlin on Saturday, Nest — which was acquired by Google for $3 billion in 2013 — announced it will roll out its products to France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium. While people in dozens of countries are already using Nest’s smart thermostat and smoke detectors (which they purchased online) for their homes, the products don’t always work as well as they should. This is because many countries have unique heating-system requirements that don’t match up with what’s now in place.
Nest today announced it is expanding further into Europe. Its Thermostat and Protect products will be available to buy from official channels at the end of the September in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland. Nest says that people use its products in 120 different countries already, having bought them online, even though they are not set up properly for that country’s heating system. After the UK, where Nest products are already on sale, the new countries announced today are some of the most popular countries for imported Nest usage in Europe. Nest says it has made sure its Thermostat will work with the heating systems the new countries use and that it has a support structure to deal with installation. It has recorded new voices for its Protect alarm using the local dialect. Deals have been signed with energy providers in some of its new regions to help get the Thermostat into homes by bundling it with certain tariffs. The companies are Direct Energie in France, Lampiris in Belgium and Essent in The Netherlands. No partnerships have been announced for Ireland. Prices haven’t been announced yet, although I am told there will be one price across Europe.
