NTT DoCoMo are beginning a trial of ‘fragrance playlists’ that can be shared between cellphones and used to trigger different smells from an infrared-linked fragrance emitter.  While it might look like an April fools joke, the system first appeared in Japanese homes in 2005, but with this new version of the hardware NTT are synchronizing media on the cellphone (e.g. MIDI files and/or GIF animations) with the range of scents released.

Accessed via i-mode, the playlists are downloaded onto the handset and then exchanged via infrared to the fragrance device; they can also be remixed and further shared.  NTT DoCoMo have also developed an internet-based Service Gateway which can remotely trigger fragrances: they suggest this could be used to prepare a pleasantly smelling home when leaving the office.

Twenty male and female trial subjects have been selected, with five having access to the Service Gateway system, and their feedback will decide how the project is progressed.  I really want to believe this is a joke, but I have the horrible feeling it’s actually real.

[via Tokyo Mango]