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Forerunner
A south London schoolboy has become one of the world’s youngest tech millionaires after selling his mobile app to Yahoo!.
Nick D’Aloisio, 17, developed the app, called Summly, while revising for his mock GCSEs in 2011.
The app, which summarises news stories, will now close and its features will be used in mobile products at Yahoo!. Nick will also start a full-time job at the web giant while he studies for his A-levels.
He said: "I'm hoping to stay [at Yahoo!] as long as it takes to get the technology integrated.
"We were approached a few months ago and what really excited me was their mobile strategy.
"I think this is an amazing opportunity and I didn't want to miss it."
Sources familiar with the deal indicated that Nick received almost $30 million for the app, which has been downloaded around one million times since its launch last year.
Yahoo! said in a statement: "We're excited to share that we're acquiring Summly, a mobile product company founded with a vision to simplify the way we get information, making it faster, easier and more concise."
"At the age of 15, Nick D'Aloisio created the Summly app at his home in London. It started with an insight – that we live in a world of constant information and need new ways to simplify how we find the stories that are important to us, at a glance."
Nick, who lives with his family in Wimbledon, said he had "boring" plans for the money. "I'm planning to invest it - my parents are in control of it," he said. "I want to buy a shoulder bag."
Summly condenses news articles into three key paragraphs that fit onto an iPhone screen. Users can customize the news categories and link to the original article if they like the summary.
Read more @SOURCE
Nick D’Aloisio, 17, developed the app, called Summly, while revising for his mock GCSEs in 2011.
The app, which summarises news stories, will now close and its features will be used in mobile products at Yahoo!. Nick will also start a full-time job at the web giant while he studies for his A-levels.
He said: "I'm hoping to stay [at Yahoo!] as long as it takes to get the technology integrated.
"We were approached a few months ago and what really excited me was their mobile strategy.
"I think this is an amazing opportunity and I didn't want to miss it."
Sources familiar with the deal indicated that Nick received almost $30 million for the app, which has been downloaded around one million times since its launch last year.
Yahoo! said in a statement: "We're excited to share that we're acquiring Summly, a mobile product company founded with a vision to simplify the way we get information, making it faster, easier and more concise."
"At the age of 15, Nick D'Aloisio created the Summly app at his home in London. It started with an insight – that we live in a world of constant information and need new ways to simplify how we find the stories that are important to us, at a glance."
Nick, who lives with his family in Wimbledon, said he had "boring" plans for the money. "I'm planning to invest it - my parents are in control of it," he said. "I want to buy a shoulder bag."
Summly condenses news articles into three key paragraphs that fit onto an iPhone screen. Users can customize the news categories and link to the original article if they like the summary.
Read more @SOURCE
