It’s time to start exercising your thumbs as LG Electronics launches the LG Mobile World Cup, giving participants a chance to show off the speed and accuracy of their text messaging skills. The competition began in Korea on October 27. It will also be held in Brazil closer to the end of the year.

This annual global competition allows people around the world to battle against their peers to determine who can send text messages the fastest without making mistakes. The competition will begin with a series of national contests, the winners of which will be qualified to participate in regional championships. Finally, regional champions will face off in the last round of the LG Mobile World Cup for the title of “The World’s Fastest Texter”.

LG has responded to the rise in popularity of text messaging by coming out with a number of new phones that include easy to use QWERTY keyboards similar to those on computers. As of September, LG has sold more than 13 million of these handsets in North America, since introducing them in 2006.

Some of the hottest selling models include enV2 (LG-VX9100), Rumor (LG-LX260) and Voyager (LG-VX10000), with consumers buying over 1 million of each. In Europe and Asia, LG’s KS360 has attracted buyers with its rainbow of color choices and easy Internet access.

This is the first year that LG has expanded the Mobile World Cup competition beyond North America, and the competition also welcomes participants from Korea and Brazil.

Next year, LG will allow even people from a total of 12 countries to participate and three more states will be added to the mix in 2010. Also in 2009, LG plans to invest nearly USD 20 million in the events.

For the recent two years, LG has held LG National Texting Championships in the U.S. and Canada. These competitions drew huge numbers of participants, eagerly competing for the title of “The Fastest Texter”.