Summly: Teenager launches top-selling news app
2 November 2012 Last
updated at 08:45 ET
Nick D'Aloisio took time
off school to develop the Summly smartphone app
A smartphone app which
provides summaries of news stories soared to number nine in Apple's app store
just two hours after its release in the US.
The app, called Summly,
was designed by 17-year-old Londoner Nick D'Aloisio, and has received more than
$1m in funding from investors.
High-profile supporters
include Stephen Fry, Tech City CEO Joanna Shields and Newscorp owner Rupert
Murdoch.
However some early
reviewers have described the app as "confusing".
"Navigation
unclear," wrote Oliver Devereux on the app store's review page, while
another described it as "quite unintuitive".
But the app is still
rating an average score of four out of five possible stars from users overall.
Mr D'Aloisio took time off
school to develop his idea for a smartphone application that offers summaries
of existing news stories published on the net.
The free-to-download app
uses algorithms to process news stories into summaries which users can then
swipe to see in full if they wish.
"We worked hard on an
interface that looks like nothing else on iPhone," he told the BBC.
"We merged algorithm
with beautiful design. It's summarising thousands of articles every
minute."
'Big visions'
Mr D'Aloisio, who celebrated
his 17th birthday on Thursday, has appointed Bart Swanson, who oversaw the
roll-out of retailer Amazon in Europe, to chair the company behind Summly.
"I see big visions
for the company longer term," the teenager said.
"We can really become
the de-facto format for news on mobile. People are not scrolling through
1,000-word articles - they want snack-sized information."
In the longer term Mr
D'Aloisio would like to see users make micro-payments to read some stories in
full should they choose to view the entire article.
"Traditionally
publishers have been confined to a paywall system," he said. "You can
either give away the headline or the full article. But we can really sell the
summary level."
Mr D'Aloisio now intends to
finish his education and go to university - but he also wants to remain
involved in the company.
"I'm going to do my
best to stay, I'm the founder and it's my vision and I want to see that
through," he said.
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