yeah, but will ST work with it 
I want Google to come out with their own home automation platform that will integrate with Google Home. And hopefully I can re-use some of my existing SmartThings devices. SmartThings is a great idea and it’s free (the service) and I can appreciate the effort from everybody at SmartThings, but unfortunately Samsung simply seems to be unable to deliver a stable cloud solution. I have been using SmartThings for almost a year and a half now and the number of issues have been numerous. Right now things are failing yet again. Hopefully Google will be able to deliver since they have had the experience.
Doesn’t look like this going to happen. After all, HA gadgets (including hubs) are a low-margin commodity. The big ones - Apple, Google and Amazon - are focusing on the brains behinds HA, the AI, not the gadgets themselves.
This is the essence.
As a Proof of Concept, the ST team built something awesome. If it ever makes it to the next level, it will be when the “stable cloud solution” is rolled out. Otherwise, Samsung just bought the name…
So lets’ review the parts that Google has right now:
Nest (Thermostat/Smoke Alarm/Cameras)
Don’t forget that Nest also bought the Revolv hub. The most radios in one hub that I know of.
OnHub router
Chromecast (Multi-room Video/Audio streaming)
Google Home (Voice interfact + audio streaming)
A billion + Android devices
Thread networking protocol
How much of a leap is it to think that they’re going to somehow magically tie this and a bunch of 3rd party stuff together?
Kind of like they tied Gmail/Google Docs/and a bunch of awesome 3rd party services together in the productivity world.
Google is probably about a year or two away from making some software pushes to a bunch of devices and blowing ST/Wink/Amazon/Vivint/etc out of the water.
Watch for the next few acquisitions. Don’t be shocked if you see them pick up an Alarm company, a lighting company, and a few dozen kickstarter patents.
I can see that happening. The question then becomes - will it allow us the same flexibility as SmartThings does with things like Rule Machine and CoRE and AskAlexa etc (thanks to this great community and its contributors) or not? By the way, do you guys think, it is this “openness” that is causing or contributing to the platform issues?
You’ve hit on the single biggest differentiator/strength of SmartThings. The open community who pushes it ahead in ways that the makers could never do on their own.
And, no, I’m not sure that a Google run infrastructure/platform would allow that much community contribution. I am sure though, that they will have a rock solid product and anything they do will just work - well.
To most consumers that will matter more. People want something that works without having to become a semi hobby, well most people anyway.
Two years ago some people were making the same predictions. It didn’t happen.
Yeah, there’s always the chance that I’m wrong, but they’re 2 years further along the road if that’s where they’re really going. They have a lot more pieces in place now than they did then. Hardware pieces that are/will be in a lot of houses.
One thing is sure, they’re spending a lot of time and money to increase their footprint in the space. BWT - Phillips has been looking for someone to purchase it’s lighting business (the whole big thing) for over a year. They’re actually considering an IPO/Spinoff of the division now. That’s probably too big of a bite for Google, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they went after the HA piece of it.