South Korea Wins LG's $100,000 Texting World Cup

 By 
Samuel Axon
 on 
South Korea Wins LG's $100,000 Texting World Cup
Mashable Image
Credit:

Each team consisted of two competitors — one who specialized in numeric keypads, the other in QWERTY. Games intended to measure texting speed and efficiency were conceived for the event. The South Koreans (teenagers Young-Ho Bae and Mok-Min Hatook) took home the $100,000 first place prize, the Americans (Morgan Dynda and Kate Moore) came in second to win $20,000, and Argentinians Juan Ignacio Aufranc and Agustina Montegna placed third for $10,000.

One of the events at the Mobile World Cup involved trying to set a new Guinness World Record for texting speed. The existing record was successfully broken when Portuguese competitor Pedro Matias typed a 264-character message in one minute and 59 seconds — that's 23 seconds faster than the record set by Arttu Harkki in 2005. That was with a QWERTY keypad, though. You can say it would have been more impressive on a numeric keypad, but we challenge you to do better. Here's a quick promotional video covering the event.

The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
These newsletters may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. By clicking Subscribe, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!