The convergence between wireless technologies and wearable computing has boosted the development of services such as health screening as well as innovative applications, participants at Mobile Asia Expo 2014 heard yesterday in Shanghai.

Other services that can be linked include commerce, revenue, security and data analysis, industry insiders said.

At Funtalk's booth, visitors can measure their weight, fat rate and blood pressure on an electronic scale and store the results via Bluetooth on their smartphones. The device costs about 400 yuan (US$65), which makes it a "suitable and easy" device for people to track health every day, a company staff said yesterday.

Wearable computing devices are also popular at several booths. The NTT Docomo booth features clothes with three sensors built inside that can detect pulse and heart rate. Users send the results to smartphones through Bluetooth. The next-generation "healthcare" clothes can be washed 30 to 50 times.

The show also displays innovative mobile applications and services like mobile context data.

Mobile context, which refers to subscriber information, behavior and location that are available to operators, can be offered to brands for promotions, said service provider Syniverse. It can also be used for mobile banking.

The potential market value for mobile context data in China, Japan and South Korea is set to reach US$11.9 billion annually, according to analysts.

FingerQ, a Macau-based startup firm, has developed devices with fingerprint recognition to protect users' contents such as messages, e-mails and photos.