That's exactly why they did this. They can lock out 3rd party vendors and also force you to buy new heads at an interval of their choosing all in the name of "ensuring quality".
It runs normally without a head attached, so they must not be doing this yet. The architecture authenticates the body to the brush, which is the reverse of what you would do to lock out brushes. (A third party brush can get the password from the body and say "yup, that's definitely the password" and then the body thinks it's genuine. Meanwhile, a third-party body could use genuine brushes because a brush can't mechanically make itself not work. So there just isn't any lock-in here.)
The main feature this seems to be used for is to put the body into "whitening" mode if you use a whitening brush.
Keurig did the same thing with their later models. The coffee I used (SF Bay pods) just shipped a widget that tricks the Keurig into accepting the pod. I drink cold brew now, but I wonder if that cat & mouse is still happening.
It can’t be far off that they ship a BLE or Wifi enabled Sonicare that reports your best brushing habits to the app that then posts it on Facebook for philipPoints you compete with your friends on… oh shit… what have I done!?
Anyhow, blocking unofficial heads is just an OTA firmware update away.
Although the points don't go to Facebook - you get "rewards" for them. Eg:
> Pair one or more brushes to our iOS or Android app, then you’re all set. quip’s Bluetooth® Smart Motor will automatically store your routine, no phone needed! To check your brushing stats and the points you’ve earned, tap the app.
> Earn bonuses for never missing a beat! Redeem points for rewards you’ll love
The Sonicare App already reports your brushing areas and how long you brush and other metrics. It wouldn’t be hard to add a “post to FB feature” (but let’s hope they don’t).
Also, how would you know? I have an IOT product that can delta OTA, so only the bytes of the firmware that change are sent to the device, I can do firmware updates that are crazy fast. ESP if it’s just something like turning a feature on.
locking down heads will hurt what market share philips still has far more than it hurts their consumers. there are alternatives, and even a locked brush is an alternative - it still works, and actively pisses off the user.
people skip brushing their teeth for all sorts of reasons. (yes you do. stop lying. your dentist doesn’t believe you, either.)
It has already happened. Philips has designated 3x months for a single toothbrush lifespan, which may or may not be the case (depending on one's toothbrush using habits) as the head clearly does not annihilate automagically after three months. For the sake of the conversation, let's say the recommendation is valid.
Where it gets more interesting, though, is actually not at Philips but at shops that sell replacement heads. Sale assistants do go out of their way to actually lie to their customers and tell them that a single toothbrush head will last, like, many-many-many months. And when asked at the next shop visit about why the toothbrush started yelling three months after replacing it, they will blink their eyes and literally inform the customer of «having never heard before about it from any other customers». The situation happens on a regular basis, and the only recourse that works with such people is brushing the pesky flies aside and politely ignoring them. Since not every customer can or does that, the ink business of electric toothbrush replacement heads prospers.
