Ok, that's pretty commonplace, right? Well get a load of this, a Japanese phone company is testing the ability to download scents...what?!? Yep, the cell users will test a new service that allows them to download fragrances. Twenty participants using "Mobile Fragrance Communications" can download files of specific scents accompanied by music or video clips. Oh boy, this could get interesting.
Scent playlists can be downloaded from "i-mode" mobile Web site run by the company's affiliate. The service uses a handset's infrared port to transfer the "fragrance data" to a dedicated device similar to a plug-in air freshner that is loaded with a cartridge of base fragrances. The device then mixes them to create the chosen smell, which it "wafts" out. The service is a cell phone version of an exisitng fragrances download service for scent users' homes and offices.
The company is also testing a device that can be connnected to the Internet so that a user can remotely program a scent from a mobile phone. Apparently the company, in 2005, launched a similar service for Japanses households, allowing users to download different programs to emit smells from a designated machine...
...and just when I had read somehwhere that new cellphone purchases are declining! The particular analyst was quoted as saying "there is slowing most rapidly among new subscriptions for children under 12"...what?!?...do children under 12 need a cellphone?, boy, I must be out of it (my boys are grown and on their own). This potential ability to download scents may be just what the industry needs to obtain an economic boost! Yeah, right.
Oh well, in regards to cell phone use in the workplace...please be courteous, put them on vibrate in meetings, and for that matter, put them away during meetings if possible, IF you need an audible alert, choose one that is professional (you know, no Rolling Stones), IF you absolutely need to take a phone call, please step to a private location as to not disturb or interrupt, and if this scent thing goes public...DO NOT download Jean Nate' !