霍尼韦尔状告iPod之父明星恒温器侵权

    霍尼韦尔面临的威胁不只是丢失几个百分点的市场份额这么简单。Nest成功吸引了百思买（Best Buy）等主流零售商的关注，显示曾经一潭死水的恒温器市场已经开始发生变化，因为百思买的顾客以年轻人为主。因为百思买是Nest恒温器的销售商，为此，霍尼韦尔也将百思买也告上法庭。法德尔在11月接受采访时向我表示：“这是一个水平低下而且不完善的市场。恒温器业务非常庞大。”（不过，我们并不清楚霍尼韦尔营收中有多少来自恒温器。）

    经济停滞不前导致的开支紧缩也强化了智能恒温器的吸引力。德兰尼称，业主们现在选择通过简单的改变，比如试用一款新设备，来升级自己的家，而不是大肆改装。

    所以最终还是钱的问题。对于这一点，科特比谁都清楚。他在1月份的那次会面中称：“调查的时候，大家都表示支持高能效。但当花的是自己钱时，他们的想法就不同了。”科特过去还曾表示，如果人人都积极使用现有的霍尼韦尔产品，美国每年的能源费用能省下近四分之一。因此，Nest公司显然是霍尼韦尔的心腹大患。

    译者：项航

    What's potentially at stake here is more than just a few points of market share for Honeywell. The Nest's ability to capture the interest of a major retailer like Best Buy (BBY), where the product is sold -- and which is also named in Honeywell's filing -- suggests the diversification of a market that has long been stagnant, if only by taking into account the younger demographic of Best Buy's shoppers. "This is an underserved and unloved market," Fadell told me when we spoke in November. "The thermostat business is big." (It is not clear what portion of Honeywell's revenues come from such devices.)

    The belt-tightening caused by the dragging economy has also made a smart thermostat much more compelling. Instead of doing large-scale remodels, homeowners are opting to make simpler modifications to upgrade their homes, like trying out a new device, Delaney says.

    So in the end, it comes down to the bottom line, and Cote knows this better than anyone. "Everybody's in favor of energy efficiency on a survey," he said in that January meeting. "But when it's their own money, they think of it in a different way." He has also stated in the past that if everyone aggressively used existing Honeywell products, the United States' annual energy bill would be cut by up to a quarter. For Honeywell, certainly the Nest is one obstacle getting in the way.