Today, if you intend to make a living, it's not enough to simply have a job. You need at the very least 2 or 3 different resources of income to ensure you are able to pay your entire bills in case something unfortunate happens. Technology has evolved so much that in the past few years lots of people are finding another way to earn money: they develop mobile applications. Many entrepreneurs have made a term for themselves by developing mobile apps, and if you're thinking about learning how to develop mobile apps yourself, keep looking over this article.
Mobile app development is just a rapidly growing industry because individuals are finding more approaches to earn money through their smartphones. Each day the amount of active users keeps growing. Here are some numbers which will illustrate just how large a is now:
- The number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to achieve 1 billion in 2014 ( source ).
- In accordance with statistics there have been nearly 35 million iPhone developers as of December 2010 ( source ). This figure shows a growth of 25% over the previous year's figures!
If you intend to develop mobile apps then you'll need several things before you can start. This is true of any type of development, nevertheless, you especially need the following:
- Skills and knowledge – You'll need to find out just how to code, and you'll also should try to learn about design concepts like UX (User Experience) and HCI (Human Computer Interaction).
- A computer – Needless to say! Ideally it must be a laptop/netbook that runs Windows or Mac OSX because most computers nowadays run one of these simple operating systems. However, if your skills are adequate then you may be able to develop an app on Linux as well.
- A smartphone – It's not essential for developing apps, however it will surely help because you can test them directly on your device. In the event that you don't have a smartphone then you could always work with a friend's or a household member's device.
- An IDE – A software development kit (or IDE - Integrated Development Environment) is important to create applications for Android, Deniz Guney iOS and Windows Phone platforms. Popular IDEs include Xcode , Eclipse and Visual Studio.
- The developer license – You are able to develop apps without paying anything, but if you want to publish them on app stores then you'll need to cover the annual fee which is currently $99 for Apple App Store and Google Play Developer Console. Several payment methods can be found, including credit cards, PayPal and wire transfer from your own bank account.
Mobile app development is just a rapidly growing industry because individuals are finding more approaches to earn money through their smartphones. Each day the amount of active users keeps growing. Here are some numbers which will illustrate just how large a is now:
- The number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to achieve 1 billion in 2014 ( source ).
- In accordance with statistics there have been nearly 35 million iPhone developers as of December 2010 ( source ). This figure shows a growth of 25% over the previous year's figures!
If you intend to develop mobile apps then you'll need several things before you can start. This is true of any type of development, nevertheless, you especially need the following:
- Skills and knowledge – You'll need to find out just how to code, and you'll also should try to learn about design concepts like UX (User Experience) and HCI (Human Computer Interaction).
- A computer – Needless to say! Ideally it must be a laptop/netbook that runs Windows or Mac OSX because most computers nowadays run one of these simple operating systems. However, if your skills are adequate then you may be able to develop an app on Linux as well.
- A smartphone – It's not essential for developing apps, however it will surely help because you can test them directly on your device. In the event that you don't have a smartphone then you could always work with a friend's or a household member's device.
- An IDE – A software development kit (or IDE - Integrated Development Environment) is important to create applications for Android, Deniz Guney iOS and Windows Phone platforms. Popular IDEs include Xcode , Eclipse and Visual Studio.
- The developer license – You are able to develop apps without paying anything, but if you want to publish them on app stores then you'll need to cover the annual fee which is currently $99 for Apple App Store and Google Play Developer Console. Several payment methods can be found, including credit cards, PayPal and wire transfer from your own bank account.