 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(January 2016) |
 | |
| Developer(s) | Yapp Inc |
|---|---|
| Initial release | November 2012 |
| Operating system | iOS, Android [1] |
| Type | application framework |
| Website | www |
Yapp is a self-service online platform that allows users to create mobile event applications with no coding knowledge. [2] [3] The product was launched out of beta by its founders Maria Seidman and Luke Melia in 2012. [4]
Yapp was founded in 2011 when co-founder Maria Seidman first attempted to look for software and tools for non-technical people to create affordable mobile apps. She realized there was not an easy way for non-technical people to create an affordable mobile app with ease. [5] Seidman was formerly the Vice President of Digital Distribution at Warner Bros. [6] [7] She found partner Luke Melia through the New York CTO Club, later he wrote the first line of code for Yapp in June 2011.
In 2012, Melia and Seidman presented a working prototype of Yapp at the New York Tech Meetup. [8] [9] Yapp opened in private beta in March 2012 and to the public in November 2012. [10]
The company gained early success with clients including Verizon Wireless and WorldVentures to organize training and employee events regionally for their network bootcamps and events. [11] [12] Later in the year it added few more clients to including EdCamp, Duke University, BlogHer, Westfield High School, X Prize Foundation, the Innovation Partnership Program, and others. Yapp is based in New York City and is part of the Silicon Alley tech boom. [13] The company launched with an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Kleiner Perkins, North Bridge Venture Partners, Cue Ball and other individual investors. [14]
While originally launched as a free service, [4] in November 2014, Yapp introduced paid service tiers called Yapp Plus. [15] [16] In 2014, Seidman was named Entrepreneur Magazine's Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year for her work on Yapp. [17] [18]
Yapp has two major products Yapp Online Editor, a template-based editor on the web and Yapp app, hosted on users’ mobile devices through the mobile app Yapp. [2] When apps are published, they are attached to a link that can be used to download the app on a mobile device. The apps are not published to the iTunes or Google Play app stores directly and are downloaded using a shortlink generated from the online editor. [19] Yapp's online editor and mobile app are built using Ember.js, an open-source JavaScript application framework.
Yapp runs a freemium model and creates white-label products for companies and organizations based on the Yapp mobile app. [20] The apps are custom designed and maintained in the Apple and Google Play app stores by Yapp.
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