I recently saw a presentation mentioning that there “are more mobile phones than toothbrushes in the world”, and according to some research by the 60 second marketer, it seems that in all likelihood, this is absolutely true:
My next thought was “why not combine the two?!”. Here’s my quick mockup of an iPhone case of the future:
But as usual, truth is stranger than fiction. Just when you think you’ve seen every use of analytics possible, along comes a real “iPhone toothbrush”. The Beam Toothbrush is a bluetooth-enabled toothbrush and associated iphone application:
It provides detailed analytics, recording how long each person brushes their teeth:
And like any good performance management tool, it uses gamification techniques to encourage the right behavior…
It seems as if analytics is being embedded in every device possible, such as the new Nike Hyperdunk+ basketball shoes and associated application:
Anybody else have any favorite examples of how analytics are taking over the world of consumer products?
![The Ethics of Data, Visualized [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://www.smartdatacollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ethics-data-visualized-infographic-1-330x220.jpg)
