Today, if you wish to make a living, it's not enough to simply have a job. You'll need at least 2 or 3 different sources 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 many people are finding another method to earn money: they develop mobile applications. Many entrepreneurs have made a term for themselves by developing mobile apps, and if you're interested in learning how to develop mobile apps yourself, keep reading this article.

Mobile app development is really a rapidly growing industry because individuals are finding more approaches to earn money through their smartphones. Each day how many active users keeps growing. Here are a few numbers which will illustrate just how large a has become:

- The amount of smartphone users worldwide is expected to attain 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 previous year's figures!

If you want to develop mobile apps then you'll need several things before you start. This is true of any kind of development, however, you especially need the next:

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

- A pc – Obviously! Ideally it ought to 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 application on Linux as well.

- A smartphone – It's not essential for developing apps, however it will certainly help since you can test them on your device. In the event that you don't have a smartphone then you may 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 Deniz Gueney 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 pay for the annual fee that is currently $99 for Apple App Store and Google Play Developer Console. Several payment methods are available, including credit cards, PayPal and wire transfer from your bank account.