Engineers have already figured out how to deliver voice, text messages, television, music, and mobile Internet to your cell phone. Now, they’re working on smell. Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) announced on Monday that it would soon begin testing on a system to deliver fragrances through cell phones.
Mobile Fragrance Communication, as NTT calls it, will in essence be a more mobile version of the ordinary Fragrance Communication system NTT developed back in 2005. Since no cell phone natively supports “smell,” NTT has created a portable fragrance accessory to accompany phones, which cooks up different odors by blending “base fragrances.”
Phones will be able to communicate with it via infrared signals, allowing users to send one another fragrances over the Internet. For instance, a son might send a picture of roses to his mother, who can stand near the fragrance emitter and experience its closest approximation of the smell of fresh roses. An Internet-connected service gateway will also allow users to control the device when away from home, so they can get it freshening up the house with a favorite scent before arriving home.
NTT will begin its pilot program on April 10 with a team of 20 male and female volunteers. When the device launches in Japan, it’s expected to run for about ¥20,000 ($195 USD).
