Ready, steady, text

LG’s recent Mobile World Cup, held in New York revealed that Team Korea were the fastest texters in the world. Second place was awarded to Kate Moore and Morgan Dyanda from the United States and fifth place went to South Africa, comprising Natalie Witoslawaki and Kgothatso Moerance.

LG Electronics (LG) announced today that Yeong-ho Bae, 18, and Mok-min Ha, 17, of South Korea defeated a host of challengers to become the world texting champions at the LG Mobile World Cup in New York City.

Using the latest LG mobile devices, the lightning-thumbed Team Korea prevailed in a series of tests of speed and accuracy to be crowned world texting champions and win $100,000.

Having earned the right to compete at the World Cup by winning their national title, the 13 two-person teams travelled to New York to engage in five rounds of intense team and individual events. All contestants texted in their native language using two of LG’s current mobile phones: the LG BL20, which has a numeric keypad, and the LG GW520, which features a QWERTY keyboard.

‚Every moment of every round was incredibly intense,‚ said winner Bae. ‚I’m thankful for this win but also for the opportunity to meet new friends from different countries in one of the most exciting cities in the world.‚

Morgan Dynda and Kate Moore from the United States placed second, winning $20,000, and Juan Ignacio Aufranc and Agustina Montegna from Argentina took third place and $0,000.

South African representatives, Natalie Witoslawski (20) and Kgothatso Moerane (22), finished fifth in the competition. ‚It is an awesome experience to be in the same room with some of the world’s fastest texters. We met and made new friends and saw a bit of New York. Definitely a memory to be remembered forever,‚ says Witoslawski.

In addition to the main competition, the players attempted to set a new Guinness World Records record for fastest texting, using the LG enV3 handset. Pedro Matias, 27, from Portugal set a new record by typing a 264-character text in just 1 minute 59 seconds, shaving 23 seconds off the previous record set by Finland’s Arttu Harkki in 2005.

In a nod to how far phones have come, the record-setting text read: The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell (UK), who filed his patent for the telephone on 14 February 1876 at the New York Patent Office, USA. The first intelligible call occurred in March 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, when Bell phoned his assistant in a nearby room and said ‚Come here Watson, I want you.‚

‚All of the contestants at the World Cup are at the cutting edge of mobile technology and the earliest to embrace the latest mobile trends,‚ said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. ‚LG remains committed to providing them with the smartest technology that fits their lifestyles.‚

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