Today, if you want to make a living, it's inadequate to simply have a job. You will need at least 2 or 3 different sourced elements of income to ensure you are able to pay all of your bills just in case something unfortunate happens. Technology has evolved so much that in recent years many individuals have found another method 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 reading this article.

Mobile app development is just a rapidly growing industry because people are finding more methods to earn money through their smartphones. Every single day the amount of active users keeps growing. Below are a few numbers that'll illustrate just how big the industry has become:

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

- According to 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 previous year's figures!

If you want 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 next:

- 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).

- Some type of computer – Needless to say! Ideally it should be a laptop/netbook that runs Windows or Mac OSX since most computers nowadays run one of these simple operating systems. However, if your skills are adequate then you could be able to develop an app on Linux as well.

- A smartphone – It's not necessary for developing apps, nonetheless it will surely help since you can test them on your device. If you don't have a smartphone then you might always use a friend's or a household member's device.

- An IDE – A computer software development kit (or IDE - Integrated Development Environment) is necessary to create applications for Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms. Popular IDEs include Xcode , Eclipse and Deniz Gueney Visual Studio.

- The developer license – You can develop apps without paying anything, but when you intend to publish them on app stores then you'll need to pay the annual fee which can be currently $99 for Apple App Store and Google Play Developer Console. Several payment methods can be found, including charge cards, PayPal and wire transfer from your bank account.