Smartphones now have the technology to send scented messages, with the aroma of champagne and macaroons already having been sent from the US to Paris.
The system consists of an app which allows users to create an ‘oNote’with a smell created out of a palette of 32 scents that can be combined in 300 000 possible combinations.
The oNote can then be sent to the oPhone hardware – a device which is able to recreate the smell.
Other technology in this field is the Scentee device, which can release a favourite aroma when an individual receives a text message.
Scentee also claims to be able to change the taste of food with its mini air-freshener-like, alcohol-based aroma cartridges. A user can select to emit a puff of scent at will using the small plastic device.
Nesta project manager Josh McNorton said the emerging Smell-O-Vision technology will hit the mainstream this year.
“The olfactory overload of a Sunday afternoon visit to your local flower market can be texted to a friend a thousand miles away. In 2015, I predict that the ability to digitally transmit smells will hit the mainstream,”he said.
