A MacBook when he was 9 ? Damn, I'm 32 and still cannot really justify one. And I'm sure his parents had nothing to do with his funding arrangements, of course.
I hate to talk about privilege, and this kid is clearly smart, but the smell of upper class is hardly bearable, sorry.
I'm 30, and I don't own a MacBook either, but I don't see them as above an upper-middle class income bracket, I'm certain you can afford them if you're into software development.
I wouldn't give them to a 9-year old either, but his parents are "a lawyer and an investment banker", so it sounds reasonable (and I guess that being the son of an investment banker probably helped the funding).
Edit: here's GigaOm's original interview linked in the BBC article
tl;dr "His parents are rich and I'm incredibly jealous".
He was given a macbook age 9. What's the point of your sarcastic jab "And I'm sure his parents had nothing to do with his funding arrangements, of course."? Of course they did, but why does it matter?
I hate to talk about privilege, and this kid is clearly smart, but the smell of upper class is hardly bearable, sorry.
He's smart and you hate to talk about class but you can't bear hearing about his text summarization software because of the contents of his parent's bank account or because he has access to more stuff than you? What?
I think the issue he is raising is that there are certainly other kids out there that are less privileged (but still privileged) that have achieved more but don't get any fame|money|respect simply because they aren't the son of an investment banker.
In the traditional sense, it'd be hard to tell whether he's upper class or not. From the way he presents himself, he almost certainly attends a public school, but these days the majority of people at public school aren't upper class by lineage. His parents are certainly wealthy, and I'd imagine that a considerable portion of his success is due to being well funded (my parents certainly wouldn't have bought me an iPhone or macbook at the age of 12) and well supported at home.
Fundamentally, I'm sure the guy is of above average intelligence. He has very good support from home, and actually has funding for his startup. However, apart from his age there's little differentiating this from other iPhone app based startups, and I would be surprised if he manages to maintain the level of progress he's had recently once life starts to be complicated. If his life is anything like mine was at 16, school is completely unchallenging and he'll have oodles of free time. That doesn't last forever!
This is the UK, where the upper class is more hereditary than job based unlike in the US. Banking and law are fairly common professions for the upper class, so he may well be upper class.
Nitpick: being the son of an investment banker (not a retail banker; there is a big difference) and a lawyer (barrister in the UK) likely places this family in the top 1% of income earners in the UK. By most people's definitions, that qualifies their family as "upper class".
I think it does. Less than 20% of Americans make over 100k per year.
Entry level in IB makes 70+ min. After a graduate degree we are talking 100 to 300k per year. By the time that person has had kids, especially a nine year old they are probably making 500k min. I don't know British IB salaries, but I imagine they are as high.
Law could be anywhere from 50k to 1mm so it really depends.
You (and the grandparent) are misapplying the American conception of class (money) to a Briton. It's about birth and schooling here - money is irrelevant. The boy seems likely to be middle class. (Upper class means a member of the aristocracy in the UK, FWIW).
Yes, there are "several definitions" (as there are with most terms), but I'm talking about the normal and popular one - the one you'll find in contemporary and historical literature and on Wikipedia, etc. Here's wikipedia:
> The British "upper class" is statistically very small and consists of the peerage, gentry, and hereditary landowners. These people were traditionally the wealthiest in the land having inherited money and position. The majority of aristocratic families originated in the merchant class, and were ennobled between the 14th and 19th century.
Just as an aside - public schools like Eton were originally exclusively for the middle class (aristocrat children would have been privately tutored) and though since 1900 they have expanded in class terms to accommodate the Upper Classes (obviously including the Royal Family) there's no way a middle class person would feel out of place there.
What's so privileged about getting a MacBook 7 years ago? Why does it matter that a 9-year-old kid's parents handled the "funding arrangements" (ie. bought their son a laptop)? And clearly he could justify one: video editing and iPhone development starting from when he was 12 years old.
I hate to talk about privilege, and this kid is clearly smart, but the smell of upper class is hardly bearable, sorry.