Google Home Hub Price Drops With Nest Rebrand
Google has a long history of offering short-term sales to encourage people to buy its smart home devices, and resellers are lowering the price even more. Altatec is offering Google Home Hubs for $60.94, less than half the original cost of $149 and well below the revised list price of $129.
Smart Sales
Not long after the Home Hub debuted, Google ran promotions with pricing at $129 and even $99, and prices from resellers have been even lower than that in some cases. The company officially lowered the list price to $129 in May. The newest cheap price is available on Rakuten at about $70, with the additional price cut added with the promo code ALT10.
The Home Hub is similar to the Google Home smart speaker, but with the major addition of a 7-inch touchscreen. It works much like a small Google tablet, except for its more fixed position and lack of cameras.
The price drop could also be related to how Google just changed the name of the device from Home Hub to Nest Hub. The name change neatly slots the device into the larger Nest ecosystem, including the new Nest Hub Max, which includes a 10-inch screen and Nest camera. It’s rather more expensive, however, costing $230. Alluding to other Nest products might be Google’s way of encouraging people to buy more of the Nest brand products, such as temperature controls and security systems.
Nightstand Display Fight
The price drop also puts Google’s Nest Hub in a better position to compete with the Amazon Echo Show 5 and the Lenovo Smart Clock. Amazon’s version is smaller, with a 5.5-inch display, but cheaper than the pre-discount Nest Hub at $90 and includes a camera, which could be a positive or negative depending on the consumer. Similarly, the Lenovo Smart Clock, which also uses Google Assistant, is only $80, but that’s still more than the discoun ted Nest Hub.
It is ultimately a question of features and brand loyalty that will likely make people pick one smart display over another. Google’s native integration with YouTube is a particular advantage in that regard. For people who have been reluctant to get a smart display because of the price though, a $129 device at less than half the cost could make all the difference.
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