Thursday, May 1, 2008

Scented text messages only two years away

nose_19107_lg.gifWe can't think of anything that actually makes the idea of scented texts worthwhile or even a genuine form of telecommunications but it's a drab Thursday afternoon so let's roll with it.

Two German companies, Sensory Analysis and interactive services firm Convisual, have patented technology for sending scented text messages between handsets. The scents are delivered via a chip, which only carries pre-defined scents.

Now stop us if we are coming down on the wrong side of the argument here but isn't telling another phone to make a certain smell that it already knows little more than having a remote control deodorant can filled with different smells? It's not like you can actually send the smell of the delicious meal you are cooking to someone, or the smell of the fresh summer air in the green fields of kent as you have to rely on what the chip knows.

Speaking to The Local, an English language German news site, spokesperson Sandra Wiewiorra claimed:

People will be able to send the smell of the beach and sunshine to their friends when they're on vacation.

What does sunshine smell like exactly? Either way, the tech will be ready in about two years and will apparently be pretty affordable too. Whether there is a market for this sort of thing, remains to be seen.

No comments: