There is no "killer app" for the connected home yet, so established players in home security, such as Alarm.com, may have an advantage because they can explain how new features and devices may be useful to existing customers, said Tom Kerber, director of home controls and energy research at Parks Associates.

But Mr. Kerber says less than a third of U.S. households have a professionally monitored security service, leaving an opening for new entrants like Nest, Apple and Wink.

Rather than just making its own devices, Nest has a better chance of dominating this market by becoming an operating system that runs lots of different gadgets made by other companies. Google used a similar approach with its Android mobile-operating system, which now runs the majority of the world's smartphones.

"I don't care how big your company is, you don't have as big an army as the app development community," said Mr. Kerber. "Opening it up and allowing app developers to innovate for you allows the platform to be much more powerful."

From the article "Google's Nest Labs Opens Its Platform to Outside Developers" by Alistair Barr and Rolfe Winkler.

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