The idea of the Dom Perignon speed contest was born from a need to show that "Fifty words per minute on your palm" was more than just a slogan. When the first contest took place, 50 wpm were reached by 8 contenders and the then unbelievable level of 60 wpm was broken by three contenders, with Marcus McRae reaching close to 65 wpm.
Two years later, in 2000, the idea of 50 wpm had become more commonplace and 18 contenders did at least that in Dom Perignon II. The 60 wpm level was broken 11 times. Then the 70 wpm level was broken by 5 contenders and the 80 wpm level was reached for the first time. It seems that the knowledge you could go faster made everybody fast. Nobody seemed to consider 65 wpm to be any unsurmountable level any more.
The 2002 Dom Perignon III contest confirmed the trend with 50 wpm becoming the average speed — actually, more than half ot the participants did better than that. More than a third of the entries were beyond 60 wpm, and 7 entries did better than 70 wpm.
In the 2004 Dom Perignon IV contest the average speed is now 52 wpm, 15 entries did better than 60 wpm, and 10 entries are better than 70 wpm. Combining all four contests, we now have 42 entries that are better than 60 wpm. The case for fast text entry on a PDA is definitely made.
Rank | Method | Time | WPM | Participant | Date |
![]() | Treo Thumboard | 28.57s | 84.00 | Jim Belich | Dec 17, 2002 |
![]() | FitalyStamp | 29.36s | 81.74 | Faith Perez | July 18, 2000 |
![]() | FitalyVirtual T3 | 29.67s | 80.88 | Jim Belich | Nov 5, 2004 |
![]() | Fitaly PPC | 30.67s | 78.25 | Jenneth Orantia | Nov 25, 2002 |
![]() | Fitaly PPC | 30.99s | 77.44 | Erwin Franz | Nov 7, 2004 |
6 | Treo Thumboard | 31.09s | 77.19 | Kevin Huang | Nov 27, 2002 |
7 | Fitaly PPC | 31.10s | 77.17 | Eko Pranoto | Nov 2, 2004 |
![]() | FitalyStamp | 31.19s | 76.94 | Ken Chan | July 18, 2000 |
9 | Fitaly Thumboard | 31.22s | 76.87 | Jared Feddersen | June 29, 2000 |
10 | Fitaly PPC | 31.44s | 76.33 | Erwin Franz | Dec 4, 2002 |
11 | Fitaly PPC | 31.58s | 75.99 | Hendrik Christian | Nov 6, 2004 |
12 | Fitaly PPC | 32.17s | 74.60 | Jaren Waldner | Oct 10, 2004 |
13 | Fitaly | 32.28s | 74.34 | Ian Frank | July 12, 2000 |
![]() | FitalyStamp | 33.20s | 73.55 | Patrick Yam | Dec 20, 2002 |
15 | Fitaly PPC | 32.68s | 73.43 | Sing Tay | Dec 8, 2002 |
16 | Atomik Palm | 33.55s | 71.53 | Patrick Yam | Dec 16, 2002 |
17 | FitalyVirtual NX | 33.68s | 71.25 | Zoltan Heizler | Oct 12, 2004 |
18 | FitalyStamp | 33.74s | 71.13 | Jonathon Mah | Oct 12, 2004 |
19 | FitalyStamp | 34.22s | 70.13 | Eric Allen | Oct 30, 2004 |
20 | FitalyStamp | 34.23s | 70.11 | Danny Lin | June 21, 2000 |
21 | FitalyStamp | 34.87s | 68.82 | Will Lau | July 15, 2000 |
22 | Fitaly PPC | 35.07s | 68.43 | Noemi Barkanyi | Oct 10, 2004 |
23 | FitalyStamp | 35.28s | 68.02 | Michael Nelson | June 23, 2000 |
24 | FitalyStamp | 35.43s | 67.73 | Jonathon Mah | Nov 21, 2002 |
25 | Fitaly PPC | 35.83s | 66.98 | Ein | Nov 30, 2002 |
26 | MessagEaseST | 35.85s | 66.94 | MC Skoop | Nov 29, 2002 |
27 | Fitaly PPC | 36.59s | 65.59 | Tan Do | Dec 18, 2002 |
![]() | FitalyStamp | 37.00s | 64.86 | Marcus Macrae | July 25, 1998 |
29 | FitalyStamp | 37.53s | 63.94 | Kevin Huang | Dec 3, 2002 |
30 | FitalyStamp | 38.00s | 63.20 | Henry Schaumburger | July 24, 1998 |
31 | Fitaly | 38.06s | 63.05 | Will Lau | July 13, 2000 |
32 | FitalyStamp | 38.07s | 63.04 | Doug Swingle | Oct 28, 2004 |
33 | FitalyStamp | 38.56s | 62.24 | JohnH | June 23, 2000 |
34 | Qwerty PPC | 38.60s | 62.17 | Jaren Waldner | Oct 7, 2004 |
35 | FitalyStamp | 38.99s | 61.55 | Alan Colburn | Nov 21, 2002 |
36 | Fitaly PPC | 39.01s | 61.52 | Charles Deschênes | Oct 20, 2004 |
37 | FitalyStamp | 39.00s | 61.50 | Kaiwei | July 15, 1998 |
38 | Fitaly PPC | 39.05s | 61.45 | Richard Owens | Dec 3, 2002 |
39 | MessagEaseST | 39.57s | 60.65 | Alex Fung | Nov 27, 2002 |
40 | Fitaly PPC | 39.59s | 60.62 | Palmsolo | Dec 12, 2002 |
41 | FitalyStamp | 39.71s | 60.54 | Marianne Kleen | Dec 20, 2002 |
42 | FitalyStamp | 39.64s | 60.43 | Joel Morris | July 17, 2000 |
In his July 2000
Review of FitalyStamp Will Lau wrote
The slogan goes... 'Fifty words per minute on your Palm' Is this true?
Nup - no way. I get 65wpm in ideal conditions. Actually 40 - 50wpm is quite attainable with a little practice.
This is more true than ever.
Dom Perignon IV Contest Dom Perignon III Contest Dom Perignon II Contest Dom Perignon I Contest |
Dom Perignon IV Forum Dom Perignon III Forum Dom Perignon II Forum Hall of Fame |
Statistics By Method IV Statistics By Method III |
Quadratlon Corner IV Quadratlon Corner III |
FitalyStamp Overview FitalyVirtual Overview Fitaly for the Pocket PC Overview |
FitalyLetris for the Palm FitalyLetris for the Pocket PC Textware Solutions |