Google OnHub will be the first Brillo device for the Google On smart home ecosystem, which will soon have its own app
Chris Burns / SlashGear : Thanks: @t_chrisburns
Context & Ripple Effects
Two months after Google unveiled Brillo, the cut-down Android OS for connected devices, it has picked its first hardware carrier: the OnHub router becomes the inaugural Brillo device inside a new "Google On" smart home ecosystem that will get its own dedicated app. That positions the router — not a speaker or a hub dongle — as the control point for the home.
The move lands awkwardly against reception so far: reviewers found the $200 OnHub user-friendly but underpowered for the price, and rooting work soon showed it to be essentially a Chromebook in router's clothing — capable silicon searching for a job. Making it the first Brillo device is Google's answer to that critique.
First-order effects
- OnHub owners get their $200 hardware repositioned from standalone router into the anchor of a smart-home platform, with a Google On app as the control surface instead of raw router settings.
Second-order effects
- Routers become contested smart-home real estate: once OnHub controls lights and locks, rivals' hubs and speakers must either match the router's always-on position in the home or concede the control layer — a pressure that later shows up when Google extends device support through Home's integration of Belkin WeMo and Honeywell gear.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the home-network box evolves from plumbing into the ecosystem's command layer, forcing competitors like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — already circling with Home Hub-style software for Windows 10 — to fight over who owns the always-on device rather than the app on top of it.
The trend: Smart-home platforms are converging on the always-on network appliance as their control point, turning routers into the next battleground after speakers and hubs.