Is Nest Chief Tony Fadell Google's New Hardware Guru?

Google (GOOG) intends to make its newly acquired $3.2 billion Nest team led by chief Tony Fadell the focal point of its hardware development, not only to develop more sensor-embedded home devices but also to advance new blueprints for consumer hardware such as the next generation of wearables, according to a TechCrunch report.

Commenting on Google’s $2.9 billion sell off of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo earlier this week, Google chief Larry Page, writing in a blog post, said as much. “As a side note, this does not signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts,” Page wrote. “The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry. We’re excited by the opportunities to build amazing new products for users within these emerging ecosystems.”

The web search giant reportedly is prepared to give Fadell—widely regarded in a former life as Apple’s (AAPL) iPod’s backbone and an original iPhone development team member—and his hand-picked product engineers a wide berth and unlimited resources to design and create new devices—maybe a new smartphone, tablet, phablet or, more likely, maybe the next level of wearables.

While TechCrunch made the point that Google didn’t buy Nest for its sensor-embedded thermostats or smoke alarms but rather for its top engineering talent, it can’t be discounted that the acquisition opens a wide door for the search giant into the Internet of Everything (IoE), or what Cisco Systems (CSCO) has pegged as a $19 trillion opportunity of worldwide connected devices.

It’s hard to imagine that Google’s burgeoning conglomerate would pass on that kind of opportunity.

Viewed with a wide lens, it’s looking as though Google, for the moment, has set itself up for the long game. The company got what it wanted from Motorola—its extensive portfolio of intellectual property—it’s got a new, 10-year patent licensing deal with long-term Android collaborator Samsung, it’s close to settling a three-year anti-trust probe with European regulators, and it’s looking well into future product development with the Nest and $400 million DeepMind artificial intelligence acquisitions.