Nest’s quest to fix your thermostat

On Version History: Why an Apple legend decided to reinvent the thermostat, and why he thought it might change everything.

by Jun 28, 2026, 12:02 PM UTCDavid Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

The founding story of Nest is pretty much a perfect tech myth. A legendary product maker (in this case, Tony Fadell) helps create one of the most successful products ever (the iPhone) and then rides off into the sunset to enjoy the rest of his life, only to have an experience that drags him back for one last job. For Fadell, that job was to try and reinvent the thermostat. And maybe change the way our homes work forever.

On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of the early days of Nest. The Verge’s David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy describe Fadell’s frustration with outdated, expensive temperature controls, and his swift entry back into the product scene.

Nest was remarkably successful, remarkably quickly, and a lot of that is due to Fadell himself. The thermostat itself, though, was a bit of a mixed bag. It got a lot of things right — and Nest’s big idea about the future was eventually proven remarkably correct — and it also missed the mark in some important ways. It shipped with one heck of a screwdriver, though.

This is the third episode of the fourth season of Version History. If you haven’t yet checked out the story of the Harmony remote or the Roomba vacuum, make sure you catch up! It’s smart home season this season, and we’re having a great time. Here’s how to get every episode, and all our other fun stuff, as soon as it drops:

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If you want to know more about the early days of Nest, here are some links to get you started: