Kissenger (yes, kiss + messenger) is a new gadget to bridge the intimacy gap between long-distance lovers.
Here’s how it works. People yearning for a little physical affection connect with a partner using the Kissenger app and place their smartphones in the gadget’s holster. Then, they press their lips to a fleshy-looking silicon pad and the device will “transmit realistic kissing sensations to your partner in real time.”
The app also supports video chatting so you can (good grief) look into each other’s eyes.
Marketing a device with such a high ick-factor may seem implausible, but Kissenger isn’t the first company to view the desperation of long-distance companions as a business opportunity.
There’s an entire market devoted to teledildonics — a lovely word coined by tech philosopher Ted Nelson — which enables people to engage in mutual sexual stimulation from remote locations.
The Kissenger, by comparison, seems rather demure. The pad doesn’t even support kissing with tongue and Kissenger’s site includes pecks among family members and even with celebrities as possible use-cases.
The device, originally spotted by The Verge, was developed in Malaysia by Imagineering Lab, a collaboration between City University London, Osaka University Japan, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and Multimedia University.
So far, the Kissenger is just in the prototype stage and a commercial launch date hasn’t been announced. The Kissenger team’s lips are sealed on that.
