Google taking Nest engineers to work on the smart home

Some developers from Nest, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, are being moved to Google to ramp up its efforts in the smart home, The Verge reported.

The engineers are mainly responsible for the Nest platform, and would now be working with Android chief Hiroshi Lockheimer to strengthen Google's efforts. The news was originally reported by Fortune earlier today.

The engineering resource was shifted even as Google was readying its rival to Amazon Echo, a speaker called Google Home.

The announcement of the product came at the I/O developer conference in May without any strategic partnerships with third-party products. Nest, with its "Works with Nest" platform, already had a number of partnerships with companies like Belkin, Philips, and smart lock maker August.

The movement of Nest engineers to Google comes as the latest in a series of organisational changes at Nest. The company was founded in 2010, as a smart home appliance maker, which Google acquired for $3.1 billion in 2014.

However, following Google's big reshuffle as Alphabet in August of last year, Nest emerged as a separate entity distinct from Google.

Nest came under a lot of pressure to turn a profit and produce new products after becoming a separate entity.

Commentators say the move made sense, as Google like Nest, had forayed into the connected home business, with its OnHub wireless router and Google Home, a portable speaker powered by voice assistance technology which would take on Amazon's popular Echo product once it shipped later this year.

Nest has a workforce 1,000 strong, including in engineering, product marketing and product management.