{"id":46844,"date":"2014-09-12T07:38:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T07:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=46844"},"modified":"2014-09-12T07:38:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T07:38:52","slug":"yahoo-prodigy-nick-daloisio-weighs-up-education-and-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=46844","title":{"rendered":"Yahoo prodigy Nick D’Aloisio weighs up education and work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British teenager who sold his news summary app to Yahoo for millions is facing a major life choice as he weighs education and business opportunities.<\/p>\n

Nick D’Aloisio told the BBC he was currently deciding between working full-time for the California-based company or going to university.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old has just released an iPad edition of Yahoo’s News Digest, for which he acts as project manager.<\/p>\n

He is also developing an Apple Watch version, among other projects.<\/p>\n

“For the lightweight news consumption that we have, [News] Digest is absolutely suited for this device,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Because of the summarisation element to this app, it just inherently makes sense when you have a constrained screen.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been thinking about designing the concept of taking Digest to wearables for a while now, and we’re going to jump at the opportunity.”<\/p>\n

The app’s icon briefly features during the Watch promotional video on Apple’s site.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr D’Aloisio said his team had already begun work on the software before the launch event, but had been kept “in the dark” about how the device functioned.<\/p>\n

He added that he also intended to bring the app to Android Wear smartwatches.<\/p>\n

News Digest has already been downloaded to about 1.3 million iPhones and 623,000 Android handsets, according to analytics provider Xyo.<\/p>\n

Yahoo would not confirm those numbers, but said that it believed:<\/p>\n

65% of those who download the app became monthly active users<\/p>\n

40% of those who download the app became daily active users<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

University dilemma<\/b><\/p>\n

Mr D’Aloisio was only 16 years old when he secured a $250,000 (\u00a3154,000) investment in his software from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.<\/p>\n

Yahoo News Digest has been downloaded about two million times<\/p>\n

He subsequently launched the app Summly as a standalone news-summarisation product, but it was only a few months before Yahoo acquired the technology and his services, in a deal reported to be worth \u00a320m.<\/p>\n

Since then he has headed up a team of about a dozen software engineers and designers to create and run News Digest, at the same time as sitting his A-level exams.<\/p>\n

Yahoo’s app delivers two daily briefings of eight to nine stories, which are assembled by algorithms using text, images and videos sourced from online providers including:<\/p>\n