What exactly is going on inside Google right now? Just hours after announcing it would be selling Motorola to Lenovo, word got out that the Advanced Technology and Products group (responsible for the modular phone concept Project Ara) formed inside Motorola would be staying with Google. Hot on the heels of that rumor comes a new report that Google is forming a hardware division within the company to be led by former Apple engineer Tony Fadell and his team at Nest. In other words, Google is about to get serious about consumer hardware.
According to TechCrunch, this new division will be led by ex-Nesters and will focus not just on connected thermostats and the like, but also "gadgets that make more sense for the company." While Google-branded phones and tablets certainly aren't out of the question, if an internal email from Larry Page is any indication, Google has its sights set on other areas. Of the Motorola sale, Page says that it "does not signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts. The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry. We're excited by the opportunities to build amazing new products for users within these emerging ecosystems."
Exactly where Google is headed with consumer hardware remains to be seen. However, if you add up the information from previous efforts, rumors and Page's email to employees, Google's trajectory becomes a little clearer: It hasn't even started to make the push into connected home products, and Google Glass is just the beginning of the company's push into wearables. Exciting things are hopefully right around the corner.
Dustin Earley: Tech enthusiast; avid gamer; all around jolly guy.
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