The news of Yahoo's reported $30 million purchase of Summly, a mobile news app founded by a 17-year-old in the UK, grabbed headlines. But, what exactly is Summly and how does it fit into Yahoo's strategy?
By most accounts, the Summly acquisition falls in line with Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer's stated goal to focus on mobile, according to the Washington Post. That has been the reasoning behind the redesigned Yahoo Mail and Flickr, for instance.
Summly is the fifth start-up bought by Yahoo under Mayer's tenure, which began last July, and most of the purchases were companies "that get a read on what users are most interested in, whether by offering custom restaurant recommendations or suggested news articles," Fast Company reported.
Nick D'Aloisio founded Summly when he was 15 and launched in December 2011 with financial backing from Yoko Ono and Ashton Kutcher. The service creates 400-character news digests that mobile readers can peruse and follow a link if they want to read further.
"I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly," he wrote on his website, before thanking his family, his school and venture capitalist backer Li Ka-Shing.
"Mobile devices are shifting our daily routines, and users have changed not only what, but how much information they consume," Adam Cahan, Yahoo's senior vice president of mobile and emerging products, wrote on the company's blog. "Yet most articles and web pages were formatted for browsing with mouse clicks. The ability to skim them on a phone or a tablet can be a real challenge -- we want easier ways to identify what's important to us.
"Summly solves this by delivering snapshots of stories, giving you a simple and elegant way to find the news you want, faster than ever before," Cahan continued.
Ironically, D'Aloisio is younger than Yahoo itself, as the company was incorporated in 1995, the Associated Press reported.
The Summly app was taken off the market so that its technology can be integrated into Yahoo news products. Yahoo reportedly paid about $30 million for the service and will also hire two other Summly employees, while D'Aloisio will join Yahoo full-time.
