Teenager App’ly becomes $30M, #1
AP London 3/26/13, Enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4.biz
Only 17, and not finished High School, he’s a Tech Whiz, he’s a millionaire — and he can even offer some advice on how to raise your kids. London Teenage programmer Nick D’Aloisio’s decision to sell his news application Summly to Yahoo for about $30M has turned him into a media sensation. The sale caps a short, but successful career at Apple Inc.’s vast App store, where hundreds of thousands of pieces of software compete for the attention of Smart Phone & Tablet users. D’Aloisio had already received investment from several sources
In an Interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, D’Aloisio said his computer skills were self-taught, explaining that he started by mastering movie-making software at 13, before tackling programming languages. He said his parents were “very enthusiastic & supportive.”
Asked what Advice he’d give couples hoping to raise their own wunderkids, he urged them to let their children explore their own paths — be it computer science or drama. “If there’s a natural curiosity, that’ll lead to, eventually success,” the teenager said.
Summly is one of several apps that D’Aloisio has designed. It uses complex algorithms to automatically condense online news content into attractive little blocks of text that are useful for the small screens of Smart Phones.
Yahoo. D’Aloisio said he was thrilled to be working for a “classic Internet company” [Yahoo! Inc. is older than he is ] and he laughingly dismissed a reporter’s suggestion that his friends might be jealous. “All my friends have been very supportive,” he said.
He noted that the Publicity over Summly had been building for more than a year – meaning he and those close to him had had time to adjust to the outside attention.
Spending the $30M. Asked what he’ll do with the payout, he responded with serious answers unbefitting of an adolescent. . . .
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