Amazon announced that Google’s newest models of its smart home device lineup Nest will not be listed on the website. Also, the older Nest models will reportedly disappear after current inventories sell out.
Amazon’s decision is expected to heat up even more its ongoing battle with Google over the smart home market. The two tech giants have also clashed over video services and products.
The Nest team said they were informed that their products will be banned from Amazon’s retail platform via a phone call. The team, however, had been expecting the phone call for some time.
Amazon’s retail team first told Nest that the newest devices will not be sold on the site late last year. The banned products include the Nest Secure home system and the tremendously popular Nest thermostat.
Nest found that the decision was not spurred by the quality of the devices, but by people at the top of the company. Nest products usually have excellent reviews on Amazon.
Nest employees suspect the decision belongs to the e-commerce giant’s founder Jeff Bezos. However, Amazon’s retail team did not mention Bezos by his name.
All Nest Devices Pulled from Amazon
In the wake of the decision, Nest said it would stop selling all its products via Amazon. This means that the Nest devices present on Amazon could vanish overnight.
After multiple failed attempts with smartphones and a chilly reception of its latest Fire tablets, Amazon hopes to revive sales with its AI-powered smart home assistant Alexa. The tech is behind the company’s platform which acts like hub for connected music speakers, door locks, and lights.
However, Alexa faces fierce competition from Google’s own smart home assistant.
Last week, Amazon unveiled that it plans to buy Ring, a company that manufactures connected door bells, for $1 billion, according to Reuters.
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