Today, if you intend to make an income, it's not enough to simply have a job. You need at the very least 2 or 3 different sources of income to ensure that you are able to pay all of your bills just in case something unfortunate happens. Technology has evolved so much that in recent years lots of people have found another solution to earn money: they develop mobile applications. Many entrepreneurs have made a name for themselves by developing mobile apps, and if you're interested in learning how to produce mobile apps yourself, keep scanning this article.

Mobile app development is just a rapidly growing industry because folks are finding more ways to earn money through their smartphones. Each and every day the amount of active users keeps growing. Here are a few numbers that will illustrate just how large a is now:

- The amount of smartphone users worldwide is expected to reach 1 billion in 2014 ( source ).

- Based on statistics there have been nearly 35 million iPhone developers at the time of December 2010 ( source ). This figure shows a growth of 25% over the last year's figures!

If you intend to develop mobile apps then you'll need several things one which just start. This is true of any kind of development, however, you especially need the following:

- Skills and knowledge – You'll need to find out how exactly to code, and you'll also need to learn about design concepts like UX (User Experience) and HCI (Human Computer Interaction).

- A pc – Of course! Ideally it should be a laptop/netbook that runs Windows or Mac OSX since most computers nowadays run one of these operating systems. However, if your skills are good enough then you could be able to produce an app on Linux as well.

- A smartphone – It's not essential for developing apps, however it will definitely help since 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 family member's device.

- An IDE – A software development kit (or IDE - Integrated Development Environment) is essential to generate applications for Android, 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 intend to publish them on app stores then you'll need to pay the annual fee that is currently $99 for Apple App Store and Deniz Guney Google Play Developer Console. Several payment methods are available, including charge cards, PayPal and wire transfer from your bank account.