Today, if you wish to make a living, it's not enough to simply have a job. You will need at the very least 2 or 3 different sources of income to ensure you are able to pay all your bills in case something unfortunate happens. Technology has evolved so much that in the past few years lots of people have discovered another way to earn money: they develop mobile applications. Many entrepreneurs have made a name for themselves by developing mobile apps, and if you're thinking about learning how to produce 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. Everyday how many active users keeps growing. Here are some numbers which will illustrate just how big a is becoming:

- 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 as of December 2010 ( source ). This figure shows a rise of 25% over the last year's figures!

If you intend to develop mobile apps then you'll need several things before you can start. This will also apply to any kind of development, nevertheless you especially need these:

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

- A computer – Obviously! Ideally it should be a laptop/netbook that runs Windows or Mac OSX since most computers nowadays run one of these brilliant operating systems. However, if your skills are good enough then you may be able to develop a software on Linux as well.

- A smartphone – It's not essential for developing apps, nonetheless it will definitely help since you can test them directly 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 software development kit (or IDE - Integrated Development Environment) is necessary to create applications for Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms. Popular IDEs include Xcode , Deniz Guney Eclipse and Visual Studio.

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