NTT to test mobile aroma services

Mobile music is floundering and wireless TV is struggling to gain traction. So NTT Communications is targeting users through their noses.
The Japanese telecom announced plans to test a service that would allow subscribers to select and share scents coupled with mobile entertainment content. Uses can choose odors from a “Fragrance Playlist” available on NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode site; data is transmitted via infrared to specially made phones that include a cartridge of “base fragrances.” The device then mixes the fragrances, creating a kind of aroma cocktail, emitting the scent during multimedia playback.
The offering is an extension of Fragrance Communication, a 3-year-old service used by business and consumers “to enhance indoor environments with pleasing fragrances.” DoCoMo will launch a 10-day pilot test of the service with 20 subscribers later this week.
DoCoMo also began soliciting applications from content providers and application developers looking to integrate odors with their wares.