Ellen DeGeneres sent a 12-year-old app developer to meet Tim Cook at iPhone X release event

Ellen DeGeneres sent 12-year-old Alex Knoll to the iPhone X release event, where the youth got a chance to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Post Falls, Idaho resident Knoll previously appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2017 for his forthcoming Ability App. The Ability App won The Inventor's Challenge, inviting students through high school to create novel and potentially viable solutions to world-wide problems.

The app will give users information on the locations of wheelchair ramps, accessible hiking trails, restaurants with braille menus, grocery deliveries, and occupational therapies.

Because of Knoll's work on the app, The Ellen DeGeneres Show sent him to the iPhone X release event on Sept. 12, where he spoke with Cook briefly after the event. The visibly emotional Knoll presented Cook with his resume, and talked about his app.

I sent 12-year-old Alex Knoll to the Apple Keynote. Then @Tim_Cook surprised him. pic.twitter.com/QVp8hqq9cg
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) September 19, 2017

Apple has granted Knoll an admission to the 2018 World Wide Developer's Conference, which DeGeneres called "Coachella for tech people."

7 Comments

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 7 years ago

This kid has the “knack.” While most can learn coding at an elementary level not many have the innate gift to program as this 12 year old appears to have.

Mike Wuerthele 6901 comments · 8 Years

lkrupp said:

This kid has the “knack.” While most can learn coding at an elementary level not many have the innate gift to program as this 12 year old appears to have.

And, he learns quick. When he was on Ellen the first time, he was a hot mess. The second time, he was 12 going on 35 for most of it.

frac 480 comments · 14 Years

lkrupp said:

This kid has the “knack.” While most can learn coding at an elementary level not many have the innate gift to program as this 12 year old appears to have.

Awesome kid with confidence and a presence not normally gained for a good few years.

macxpress 5910 comments · 16 Years

Its nice to see someone with as much enthusiasm as he has. He looks and acts like he knows what he's doing. Best of all, he acts like he really loves what he's doing which is very important. If he keeps it up, he's going places in this world. He may or may not be working for Apple, but someone will pick him up thats for sure. I hope there are more and more younger folks out there with this kind of talent that get the chance he does. I know there are probably a lot of younger people out there that are extremely talented but just don't get the chance to show off their work.

2774 12 comments · 14 Years

Congrats to the young man and to Tim Cook for meeting with him. Wonder if Steve Greenhouse will worry this is "not sending a great signal on child labor, minimum wage & occupational safety"?