Send Smells Via SMS
A German company recently filed patents for scented text messages. Immediately after, mobile media giants began sniffing around. They claim that in less than two years from now you’ll be sending up to 100 different prefabricated scents via an added accessory the size of an SD-card: the scent chip.
Imagine sending a pumpkin-SMS on Thanksgiving to relatives, ocean smells to friends when on vacation, or that romantic raunchy stench you’re enjoying in the gas station’s bathroom.
If you’re anything like me, you may think that the idea of accurately projecting smells may seem a little fishy. For years networks and would-be innovators have toyed with the concept of anchoring scents to TV. Yet it never quite stuck. Convisual says it has been developing the project for over eight years and plans to release the chips only when they become both affordable and effective.
The sense of smell is one of the first human perceptions that develops in the womb. You better believe advertisers understand that primal urge. Convisual understands too. A built-in function gives you the option to reject messages based on the sender. Make no mistake, whether they are advertisers or telecom giants, companies are feral. And they’re waiting to waft their way into your wallet.
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Connie T. said
am May 25 2008 @ 5:54 pm
I can’t keep it to myself anymore…Jerad, that kinda grosses me out, to be honest. I hate to think what my mischievous husband might send my way via cellular, for example. ; )
Seriously, I feel like phones are becoming more and more laden with somewhat pointless (and sometimes irritating) over-the-top gimmicks everyday. Imagine, sitting in a packed waiting room and all of a sudden the person next to you gets a foul odor emitted through their phone. Its not an experience I want to partake of. The individual’s privacy in public spaces has already been breached by the constant and untimely ringing of others’ cell phones and the conversations on those phones that follow (think movie theatre or restaurant!)
IMO, cell phones have become more of an inconvenience in the grand scheme of things,( e.g. at the work place where co-workers take personal phone calls while on the job!) Its an interesting idea, but really, what is the point?
Jerad Kaliher said
am May 26 2008 @ 10:49 am
@Connie T., yeah like I said I’m sick of companies trying to push this idea and it never catching on. I remember when I was a kid and they had smell-o-vision on early morning cartoons. You had to buy a cereal with a smell pad in it and scratch off numbers 1-10 to smell what they wanted you to while you were watching.
I’m not asking for gadgets to get out of control. At the moment I use my cell phone for web browsing and phone calls, that’s it. But if they could seamlessly integrate smells without me really thinking about it, I’d be a happy camper.
Connie T. said
am June 11 2008 @ 3:07 pm
@Jerad: I’m about to become the biggest cell-hypocrit, LOL. The new iphone is out in July, at HALF the price of the original, plus its 10,000 times faster. If it emits smells, I don’t care, I’m buying it! : )
Ouroborus said
am August 22 2009 @ 2:23 am
It’s only going to be used to see what most disgusting smell can be sent.
Or how about, “Hey, I just had to send you a picture before I flushed. And check out the smell!”