Another Thing You Need: A Smell-O-Phone

from the uh-yeah dept

Motorola’s been awarded a patent for a smell-o-phone that releases a scent when it heats up. Now, we’ll avoid the question of whether or not this patent should have been awarded, given previous things like NTT DoCoMo’s smell-o-phone and even that old standby, the Glade PlugIn, which seems to operate on the same general principle. We’ll focus instead on the bigger question: who the hell would pay for something like this? Apparently, according to the Motorola employees that wrote the patent, “Some cellular telephone users are the same individuals who enjoy having plug-in scent units located around their homes, and may miss not having a nice smelling fragrance while they are on the go.” I miss sitting on my couch when I’m not at home, so where’s the patent to build that into my cell phone? If this is the sort of thing that Motorola engineers spend their time on, it’s little wonder the company is having such a hard time.


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Comments on “Another Thing You Need: A Smell-O-Phone”

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23 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Oh how AWFUL!

Because all we ever need is useful stuff, or stuff that makes guys think they’re cool and bleeding edge. Let’s not think outside the box. Let’s not offer more options. Let’s all follow the same dull geek way of doing things. How exciting.

You know what? If I liked the scent, I wouldn’t mind it floating around my bag. Big deal.

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