Google LLC’s smart home capabilities are expanding with new Google Home features, the imminent release of its premium Max smart home speaker and potentially a merger with its Nest Labs Inc. unit.

Google has quietly rolled out an update to its smart home device, which will allow the Google Home to multitask. The multitask feature, first discovered by CNET, will allow users to string two voice commands together, which the Home device will understand and be able to action.

Google announced in October that it plans to launch a Routines feature for Google Assistant, which will allow the company’s smart home speakers to control various tasks with a single command. An availability date for the new feature is yet to be announced by Google, but the feature will be similar to Amazon.com Inc.’s own multistep routines, which it unveiled earlier this year.

The latest feature, however, doesn’t require any additional work preloading actions on the app. Users can simply string two commands together and Google Home will be able to complete both simultaneously. The functionality only works with two commands stringed together, for example “OK, Google, play jazz music and set the volume to 5,” but won’t work with three or more commands.

Google Home was able to manage most stringed commands, but it did battle when it was requested to provide a traffic update, together with another command.

Despite its late entry into the market, Google has worked hard to catch up to Amazon, with the launch of new devices, including the Mini and Max, as well as the constant addition of new features. This latest feature follows the announcement a few weeks ago of Google’s new broadcast feature, which allows users to broadcast messages from their smartphone or Google Home to other Home devices in the house.

Amazon did promote the fact that its budget Echo Dot was the best-selling product across the whole of Amazon.com over Black Friday, as well as the best selling device at Whole Foods Market over the holiday weekend.

The Google Home Max, the company’s premium music speaker introduced in October, will reportedly be available ahead of the holiday season. 9to5Google spotted the Best Buy listing, which has now been amended, that showed an availability date of Dec. 11. This hasn’t been confirmed by Google, but the company always planned to ship the $399 smart home device in December.

If the December release date is accurate, this will be a huge blow to Apple Inc.’s premium HomePod, priced at $349. The Apple HomePod was introduced at the company’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June, with the company planning to ship the device in December. This date, however, changed a couple of weeks ago when the tech giant announced that more time was required to work on the high-end speaker and the HomePod wouldn’t start shipping until early 2018.

To boost its production of smart home devices, Google is reportedly considering working more closely with Nest, according to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.

Nest was acquired in 2014, but parent company Alphabet Inc. split the units a year later into individual brands. Last year, it was announced that a few dozen developers would move from Nest to Google to help with its smart home ambitions.

The latest report suggests that the company is now considering integrating the entire Nest team into Google’s hardware business to help expand capabilities and continue its competition with Amazon.    

Image: Google