Dive Summary:
- Nest Labs CEO and cofounder Tony Fadell tells BBC News that his chief focus right now is launching Nest's smart thermostats in 63 countries, including the U.K.
- He also mentioned that prohibitive manufacturing costs and compatibility issues with boilers and air conditioner systems were among the biggest challenges Nest initially faced.
- "Anyone can make a housewares item that has no electronics in it, but something that is truly intricate and with lots of digital hardware and software and customer service and support, it is very difficult to pull off a business like that," Fadell said.
From the article:
"... Mr Fadell becomes more revealing when asked about other tech innovations trying to get off the ground, with some critical words for big projects that rely on Kickstarter or other crowdfunding sites.
'For the public to think that these products - once they have an interesting CAD [computer-aided design] rendering and maybe an interesting video that they quickly cooked up - that these products will actually see the light of day any time soon - I think that's a disservice to how hard it is to make the kinds of things that make a difference,' he says. ..."
