Yo app that only lets you send the word 'yo' to friends receives $1m funding
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Yo.
If that wasn't a satisfactory opening to this article, then you might not be too impressed with the latest app taking internet by storm.
Appropriately named 'Yo', it lets you send exactly that word to friends and, despite launching on April Fool's Day, is apparently not a joke.
In just over two months it has gained £590,000 ($1 million) in funding and now has a growing userbase of about 50,000.
An app called Yo (logo pictured) is currently taking the internet by storm. Since launching in April it has amassed 50,000 users and has apparently been given $1 million in funding. The app is available to download for free on both iOS and Android and lets users send the word yo to others - and nothing else
According to the Financial Times the app took just eight hours to build but is quickly proving a hit with its 'single-tap zero character communication tool.'
HOW IT WORKS
The 'Yo' app can be downloaded from the iTunes store or Google Play for free.
When the app is loaded up users are asked to pick a username.
Friends can then be invited to the app by text, Facebook or Twitter.
When a friend's username is added, tapping on it will send them a yo.
They will then receive a notification saying they have received a yo - and that's it.
An additional feature involves adding the user 'WORLDCUP', which will then send you a yo every time a goal is scored in the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
But you won't know who scored without checking up elsewhere.
Other functionality is promised for the app in the future.
The company boasts that it takes 11 taps to send the word 'yo' on a rival messaging service like WhatsApp compared to just two on their app.
However, critics suggest the app is a sign we're well and truly in an internet bubble like the one at the turn of the century, and it could be set to crash in a similarly disastrous manner.
Yo is available now on both iOS and Android for free.
There is no ability to sync with Facebook, no email address needed and no search functionality.
The app simply lets you pick a username for yourself, and then enter the usernames of friends.
By tapping on a name it will then send that person a 'yo'.
They will receive a notification that it has arrived - and nothing more.
Some of the tongue-in-cheek reviews on the iTunes store were quick to eschew the apparent qualities of the app.
'Since downloading Yo, all my relationships have improved and I've regrown most of my hair,' said one reviewer.
'Receiving a yo is fast becoming the highlight of my day,' added another on the Google Play store.
'So much mystery! Why is this person yo-ing me? Should I respond?'
When the app is first installed you will be asked to pick a username. You can then add the names of friends to send them a yo (left). When a yo is sent the recipient will receive a notification that they have received it (right), and nothing else. The company says it is a 'single-tap zero character communication tool'
The app's founder, Mr Arbel, said the simplicity of the app was the reason it had already grown its userbase to 50,000.
'It's zero characters - you can't get any simpler than that,' he said to the Financial Times.
'We have decided this is an idea with great potential.'
And the app is still evolving - users can add the username WORLDCUP, for example, to get sent a yo whenever a football team scores at the 2014 World Cup.
The identity of the player and team, time of the goal and the score will remain a mystery, though, unless the user checks up elsewhere.
But the app is seen by some as a sign that the latest tech bubble is set to burst.
Infamously in 2000 many technology stocks lost nearly 80 per cent of their value and Silicon Valley lost 200,000 jobs, according to Think Progress, when the last tech bubble collapsed.
However, that hasn't deterred investors from getting behind Yo.
The initial $1 million was supplied by investors associated with Moshe Hogeg, a CEO involved in a social network called Mobli.
Whether the app continues to wide its wave of success remains to be seen.
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