Mr Sng Gim Jeramy, an 18 year old student from Republic Polytechnic, clocked 41.40 seconds - a timing faster than the current Singapore record of 41.52 seconds set in 2006.

 

Singtel will be submitting the time recorded by Mr Sng to Guinness for its consideration.

 

“We are delighted that Singtel has led Singapore in setting a potential world record for the fastest SMS again,” said Mr Wong Soon Nam, Singtel’s Vice President of Consumer Marketing. “SMS has become an essential mode of communication for the youth community, which is an important market segment for us.   To meet their needs, Singtel has launched a student mobile plan that offers free unlimited SMSes between Singtel subscribers – the first such plan inSingapore.”

  

Close to 200 participants showed up to pit their SMS skills against the clock in the Singtel SMS Shootout 2008.   They had to type the set SMS text provided by Guinness as follows: 

 

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

 

The SMS message has to be accurately typed without the use of the mobile phone’s predictive text mode or spelling aids for the attempt to be recognised.

 

Mr Sng walked away with a trophy, $12,000 cash and more than $4,000 worth of prizes including a Nokia E90 mobile phone, a Sony Cyber-shot digital camera and Playstation and shopping vouchers.

 

“I am very excited and was surprised by my timing as I faced very strong competition in the qualifying rounds,” said Mr Sng, who practised for two hours daily over the last few weeks for the Shootout.   “Practice makes perfect and I am definitely looking forward to improve my record the next time!”  This was Mr Sng’s first attempt at the Shootout.

 

In addition to the individual category, Singtel organised the first Couple’s Challenge. Participants could pair up with a parent, sibling or friend to form a couple.   Members of the team keyed in the standard SMS message on a relay basis.

 

The winning team with the fastest timing of 1.29 minutes was Mr Ang Chuang Yang and Mr Goh Hong Chen.   They won $500 cash and two Sony Playstations each worth $250. 

 

Mr Ang was the previous champion of the Singtel SMS Shootout (individual category) in 2006 with the time of 41.52 seconds.

 

Supported by sponsors Nokia and Sony Ericsson, the Singtel SMS Shootout 2008 took place at Smoove at Ministry of Sound (Clarke Quay).