Following last week’s Google acquisition, Nest chief executive Tony Fadell has vowed to make any alterations to its privacy policy opt-in, and to be transparent about such changes to all of its users.
In an interview at the DLD Conference in Munich, he said there were no changes at the moment, and said any data that it collected from users was to be used for improving its range of smart and well-designed home automation products.
“At this point, there are no changes,” Fadell explained. “The data that we collect is all about our products and improving them.”
Seven days ago, Nest Labs was acquired for $3.2 billion, sparking concerns and speculation about how Google might use this new data to change its services and better understand its customers.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
“If there were ever any changes whatsoever, we would be sure to be transparent about it, number one, and number two for you to opt-in to it,” Nest’s founder and CEO said on stage today.
During the interview, Fadell also talked about some of the meetings he had with Larry Page and other Google executives, prior to the deal’s completion. He revealed that these discussions took months, and in some cases years to finalize.
“The amount of things that I learned from them, personally, in the same meetings that they learned from me, personally…the two way interchange of what was for me intellectual happiness and the stimulation of being able to go back and forth, and really create a new world together – and in a different way than either of us had imagined – that was personally exciting to me,” he said.
CNN’s Laurie Segall, interviewing Fadell on behalf of the DLD Conference, pressed him further about what Page said to him said during those meetings.
Unfortunately, Nest’s leader was less forthcoming: “All I can say is we were finishing each other’s sentences and the visions that we had were just so large and so great, and they weren’t scared by them. We were both getting exhilarated by what could change and how things could change, and that we could have the ability to change those things together.”
Google has never been short on ambition, so it’s not surprise that the technology giant has big plans for Fadell and the rest of the team at Nest Labs. If any other company said they wanted to “create a new world”, we would be more than a little skeptical. In the case of Google and Nest, however, the notion feels less far-fetched.
“This is a hand and glove fit,” Fadell added.
Image Credit: ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.