Internet giant Yahoo! has reportedly paid 17-year-old app wizard Nick D’Aloisio a hefty $30 million for an iOS app hat summarizes news stories for readers on the go. Yahoo! announced their latest acquisition on Monday and also revealed that the British teenager would be joining team Yahoo!
Out of iTunes
Summly, a news reading app that offers short summaries of news stories all over the web, used to be a free download at iTunes. However, since it was acquired by Yahoo!, it was taken out of the Apple app store. Yahoo! management explained that while the Summly app has been closed down, its technology will be harnessed and used to offer a unique content curation experience for Yahoo! mobile users.
Tech reviewers have praised the Summly app for its ingenious design and simple yet fast delivery of summed up news. It’s something that has helped readers from all over the world stay in touch with the latest news stories anywhere they may be, at any given time. The app has generated over 90 million summaries over a period of a few months and D’Aloisio says this is just the beginning for them.
Into Yahoo!
Unlike other British teenagers, Nick D’Aloisio is not spending his time on Facebook or playing Xbox. Since he was 15 years old, he had been running Summly and making enough waves to be noticed by the top brass at Yahoo! True, he may have sold his maiden enterprise to the Internet giant, but part of the deal was that he would be absorbed by Yahoo! and that the technology of his app will figure prominently on Yahoo!’s new mobile strategy.
The hefty sum of money will supposedly be managed by his parents and set up as a trust fund of sorts because of his age. At the same time, D’Aloisio plans to continue his education while plunging deep into the guts of Yahoo!’s operations. He says he wants to help Yahoo! “return to greatness” once again. At the heart of the Summly app is a technology which can be harnessed by the company to drive other news and entertainment.
Going Mobile
Yahoo! has since focused its energies on the mobile trend. With more and more people wanting content on the go, Yahoo! President and CEO Marissa Mayer wants to capitalize on the public’s need for news that is fast, fresh and bite-sized. While running on a tight schedule, readers still want to check on the news, weather, sports stats, and stock updates. This is something that Yahoo! wants to maximize and is probably the reason why they chose to tap into D’Aloisio’s fresh insights.
Incidentally, Marissa Mayer is also a young and energetic genius. She is the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and is included in the list of America’s most powerful businesswomen. D’Aloisio says he is thrilled to work for both the company and it’s captain.
What started as a hobby for a young teenaged boy has turned out to become not only a lucrative enterprise but also one that will change how digital content will be presented and read for the years to come.
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