Scented, other 'fashion' PCs hit the catwalk

Computerworld - No two industries appear more dissimilar than those of PCs and fashion. One has long been marketed on style, the other on function. One is dominated by female consumers, the other by male buyers.

Yet the shelf life of high-end tech gear is as ephemeral as the latest fashion trends. And there are clear examples of industry crossover: the importance of style to Apple Inc.'s success, or the recent interest in "geek chic."

At the PROJECT Las Vegas fashion trade show this week, Microsoft Corp. is trying to bring the two worlds together, strutting its partners' coolest PC designs before fashionistas and style divas.

"People are into style, into how they and their clothes look. Why not be into the PC they carry?" asks Rob Poznanski, senior marketing manager in the OEM division at Microsoft.

One innovative PC on display in Las Vegas this week is the new Asus F6V, which emits one of four scents matched to the color of the machine's case. The scents range from "Musky Black" to "Bloom" (pink), "Aqua Ocean" (blue) and "Morning Dew" (green).

The scents were developed in Taiwan, in secret, for a year, reports Forbes.com.

Asus, which has ridden the success of its Eee PC, a mini, ultracheap laptop, to the No. 6 spot worldwide among laptop vendors, according to IDC, developed a heat-transfer printing technology in order to imbue a clear plastic film with a scent. The film is then wrapped around the notebook. The scent lasts from three to six months, depending on the weather it is subjected to.

The Asus F6V is a $1,300 notebook that comes in a choice of four colors and an accompanying scent.
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While scent-emitting laptops may sound like a lame gimmick like Smell-O-Vision, they could prove popular with the young, trend-conscious customers Asus is apparently targeting. Air fresheners such as Febreze and Glade that are designed to look like CD players and "play" scented "discs" are fast growing in popularity among teens and college students, especially girls, The New York Times has reported.

"I'm not sure [scent] is on the top of many OEM to-do lists, but Asus has innovated a few things that others have looked into before," Poznanski says.

Take its latest Lamborghini VX3 notebook. The $3,200 laptop comes with a leather palm rest, a canary-yellow paint job, an equine logo and other details from the Italian carmaker. Asus, along with Acer (and Ferrari) were the first to introduce laptops resembling race cars.