Imagine if you could not only see your favourite pizza emoji, but you could smell it, too? Introducing the oPhone: a landmark device for sending and receiving both photos and scents. Snapchat and WhatsApps are about to meet their most ephemeral competitor yet.
So how does it work? Using the oPhone gadget, you’ll be able to mix and match 32 scents to create over 300,000 unique aromas. You’ll then be able to send them to a friend using the free iPhone app, oSnap – so long as they have the oPhone too, of course.
Founder and Harvard engineering professor David Edwards believes that communicating with electronic aromas could be the next biggest thing. “Scent is the world’s natural tweet, because it takes just a few seconds to get a scent”, he told Fast Company earlier this year. Edwards has also invented such household names as smokable chocolate and inhalable alcohol.
With an Indiegogo campaign launched today, oPhone are looking to raise $150,000 to help grow their business. Whether smelly snaps will take off remains to be seen – but for those who are ready to snap 'n' sniff, a pair of oPhones are available to pre-order now for just $149.
