From NTT, the mobile smellphone

By Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 08 April 2008 02:27

Home IT

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning," declared Lieut Colonel Kilgore in the movie 'Apocalypse Now' as he strode up the beach littered with the debris of battle; and players of video war games in Japan might soon be able to enjoy the same olfactory experience.

Japanese telco NTT Communications is expanding its 'downloadable' fragrance service to support delivery via mobile phones and is looking for applications developers that want to incorporate the technology in, amongst other things, videogames.

Well of course, as nobody has yet mastered teleporting you can't actually download fragrances - which rely on real molecules - over a cellular or any other telecommunications network but since mid 2005 NTT has offered a device that is loaded with a range of substances each with a distinct aroma. It connects over NTT's fixed network and under instructions from the network releases various combinations of these substances to create  different aromas.

According to NTT Com, this device is now used by companies and individuals to enhance indoor environments with pleasing fragrances. Now, NTT is trialing a new version "offers the convenience of using mobile communication to download 'Fragrance Playlists', or files of recipes for specific fragrances together with visual (GIF animation) and audio (MIDI) content."

The Fragrance Playlists are downloaded from an i-mode mobile content website of sister company NTT DoCoMo. Using the phone's infrared port, the fragrance data is then transferred to a device that has been loaded with a cartridge of essences, or base fragrances. This device, described as a smaller, lighter and more stylish version of the previous fixed line model, then "mixes the specific fragrances and emits them as the user enjoys the audiovisual content played back on their phone."

NTT Com is also planning to trial a 'Service Gateway: an Internet connected unit which will enable the fragrance emitting device to be controlled remotely from a mobile phone. NTT Com suggests "commands could be sent to the gateway to instruct the fragrance device to begin operating just before the user arrives home."

It's also looking for companies that want to develop content for the service such as ringtones, music or horoscopes combined with fragrances and specific applications for various markets such as the home, automotive, consumer electronics or videogame markets.

Could be just the ticket for anyone who is too busy surfing to stop and 'smell the roses'!