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The Nest thermostat -- the "iPod of thermostats," as some have called it -- now has more than elegant design in common with the music player. On Wednesday, it went on sale at Apple stores.
Apple is selling the thermostat for $249.95, the same price at which it is available in Lowe's stores and on the Nest website.
The thermostat saves money and energy by automatically learning user behavior and adjusting itself accordingly. It can be controlled remotely via a Wi-Fi connection (there's an iOS app for that), and it’s easier to read, adjust and install than most other programmable thermostats.
All this, and it’s a looker, too. Its jewel shape and bright-colored screen depart pleasantly from the beige boxes that dominate thermostat tech.
Nest's connection with Apple runs deeper than a retail partnership. One of Nest Lab's founders, Tony Fadell, oversaw 18 generations of the iPod as a vice president at the company. The other, Matt Rogers, worked on iPod software. After Nest was sued by Honeywell for patent infringement in February, the startup hired Apple's former chief intellectual property officer, Richard Lutton Jr., as its general counsel.