Nest and Lowe’s have teamed up to sell the Nest “learning thermostat” at 500 Lowe’s stores throughout the country, a first for a major bit of high-tech geekery.
While Lowe’s has sold thermostats for years, they are now planning on adding a new “learning thermostats” area in the store and will include end caps where customers can learn more about the technology. This is Nest’s first retail partner and effectively legitimizes the hype around what many called a shiny wall bauble.
It will definitely be interesting to see how these go through retail. Fans of tech and design will definitely be drawn to the Nest in stores, but I foresee 500 Nests hanging forlornly in cavernous Lowe’s stores, their screens and shiny wheels scratched by countless hostile interactions with two-by-fours and pipes wielded by a potentially careless, hardware-store-going public.
