#scentmessaging: How you can send aromatic messages from your mobile device

Created by the Paris- and Massachusetts-based company Vapor Communications, this technology uses an oPhone for to communicate via scent messaging. The initial concept was concocted by Harvard professor David Edwards and student Rachel Field, who wanted to develop a product that provided a virtual aromatic experience and allowed communication in the unconventional manner of scent.

The oPhone DUO is the Skype equivalent of smelling messages. Just like Skype provides video calling features, oPhone lets the message recipients smell the message. For example, if I sent you a mouth-watering photo of a cake I’ve just baked, you would be able to clearly smell the cake.

This technology is enabled by an oChip, a petite customized cartridge that emits a cache of scents from its extensive smell library. oPhone DUO contains eight chips that can release 32 fragrances in over 300,000 combinations, comparable to ink cartridges in a printer. For now, Vapor Communications has only developed delicious food aromas, so you won’t have to worry about your friend trying to prank you by forwarding foul odors.  

The free downloadable app is called oSnap, enabling users to send “smell mail,” where they can take photos of food and tag the images by aroma, just like you’d tag your friends via social media. Users can share their delectable photos to their social outlets and/or send them to oPhone hotspots that have sprouted up in Cambridge, MA; Paris; and NYC.

The American Museum of Natural History hosted oPhone on Tuesday, where its first international “smell-o-gram” was proudly debuted. Edwards was the recipient of a champagne- and chocolate-scented message that was transmitted across the ocean from Paris to New York. This technology is not yet fully developed, so if you want to try this technology, you have to hit up one of the aforementioned hot spots. Edwards and his team want this technology to be integrated into smartphones as a normal feature all over the world in the future. Further plans include making the app intuitive; having the computer detect the exact object photographed and able to assign a scent to it.

OPhone DUO is crowdfunding on IndieGogo and has raised $7,800 thus far of its $15,000 goal with 44 days left in the campaign. The oPhone is anticipated to hit the market in 2015 for around $199, and is already available for preorder for $149.

Story via IndieGogo