Shanghai Daily news

"Expo Link" - a high tech mobile phone cum digital personal assistant - is one of six revolutionary plans being considered for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

With an "Expo Link" visitors will not only have a state of the art mobile phone but can also use it for up to the minute information about Expo performances or use it as tour guide at the Expo exhibition sites.

When visitors buy an "Expo Link" they will also have a device that can handle ticket bookings and hotel and restaurant reservations.

And after Expo finishes the "Link" will continue to work as a mobile phone and digital personal assistant.

It is one of the bright ideas being proposed by the city government's information advisory committee as part of the Expo's information infrastructure projects, although it is yet to be approved by the city government.

"We are constantly coming up with ideas for useful things that the 2010 World Expo can offer visitors," said Zhang Shiyong, the committee's vice president and director of Fudan University's networking and information engineering center.

"Little souvenirs are all right but an IT device with practical applications is a better example of the Expo's theme - "better IT service brings better city life," he said at the Next Generation Networking Conference yesterday.