You can turn your iPhone into a smell-phone

Apparently, a Japanese company has found a way to bring another sense into the ways we interact with our gadgets. Chaku Perfume has released a app-and-accessory combination in Japan that allows your phone to determine when a blast of fragrance should be released. The dongle plugs into a 30-pin port, and contains an atomizer and a tank of smelly liquid (think perfume). Through the Chat Perf app, someone else can make the dongle on the bottom of your phone release its fragrance. Sounds great! However, there are some drawbacks. You can’t just change the fragrance or download a new one: the device still relies on old fashioned perfumes being held in the tank. Also, there aren’t any real productivity benefits to being able to release perfume from your phone. Still, the Japanese girls below seem to be having fun, and there’s nothing wrong with a good old gadget novelty.

The Chat Perf app and accessory should be available this fall. It costs 4890 yen in Japan, so expect it to be around $60 in the US. What do you think? Would you ever pay for an accessory that added smell capabilities to your phone, or is this just a useless gimmick?