Imagine a tiny device with thousands of compact individual smell chambers that can mix and reproduce various smells, installed in every smart phone. Smell engages long term memory better, and people have unfulfilled experiences with smart phones, time passes quickly and new meaningful memories are rarely formed. Most people don't see their phones even in their own dreams, despite the large amount of time spent using one. Perhaps a phone that smells like something will be more memorable and emotionally engaging. Some will hate the new smelly phones and make fun of them, because the scents will be at first generic or commercially contrived like perfumes. Others will learn to love them and develop a nostalgic relationship with the first models, that will generate a cultural phenomenon inspire further development. In time, more complex devices may be designed to mimic human pheromones and acquire sexual attraction, or could advertise restaurants based on the smell their kitchen produces. The added dimension of an entirely new sensory mode of data could thus be produced and analyzed, with boundless possibilities. Whoever banks on this idea first will become very rich.
