You can no longer purchase Google's popular smart thermostat on Apple's online store or at its retail locations.
Apple confirmed to Mashable it has pulled the web-connected product -- considered the first mainstream smart home product -- from its shelves and website. The move comes as the first batch of smart home products that work on Apple's HomeKit platform become available for purchase.
Although the thermostat was only recently discovered as missing from Apple's product offerings, it was removed earlier this month. Apple was amongst the first retailers to carry the Nest when it debuted in 2011. Not surprisingly, it has already been replaced with the first HomeKit-enabled thermostat, the Ecobee 3 ($249).
Apple's product assortment is always changing -- and it recently scaled down on the number of items it is offering in stores -- but the removal doesn't come as a huge surprise as the company looks to promote the incoming flux of HomeKit-enabled devices.
Considering Google recently announced a competing platform called Brillo, it's unlikely Nest will become HomeKit compatible anytime soon or ever. The chances are high, however, it will serve as the centerpiece to Google's smart home system.
This isn't the first time Apple has pulled products from its stores. After the Apple Watch and Apple Health were announced, the company later stopped selling Fitbit and Jawbone trackers, though Jawbone trackers returned to Apple stores in June. Bose products were also unavailable in Apple stores during a lawsuit between Bose and Beats. Bose products have since returned to Apple stores.
The company announced HomeKit in 2014 as a smart home framework that streamlines communication between iPhones and a home device. While the first batch of products only recently hit the market, more are expected to debut in the coming weeks.
Nest was co-founded by former Apple engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers. Fadell is considered one of the creators of the iPod.