By Staff

Apple’s iPhone is all the rage these days, and the number of applications that can be downloaded and used with it is growing like crazy. Thanks to the multitude of resources available on how to create an iPhone app, including Apple’s own iPhone Developer Program, it’s becoming considerably easier to launch an iPhone app, and possibly even make money from it. iPhone app development still has its hurdles – you do have to have some programming knowledge to be able to write your own application, or the funds to hire a developer or outsource your idea to a programmer. Then there’s the matter of submitting your design to Apple and getting it approved, which has a fee attached and isn’t always a walk in the park. One team of developers had a list of 40 ideas before they came up with one successful application. But as with anything, persistence usually pays off, and if you keep at it and come up with an original idea, chances are good that you’ll have an app accepted. If you decide to create a “paid” app, Apple takes 30% of the sales revenue, and you get 70%, which works out pretty nicely for you. 

Because the iPhone and its applications tend to appeal to a young and definitely tech-saavy crowd, more and more young people are breaking into the developing industry by launching their own apps. While there are many young entrepreneurs out there who’ve been successful, we’d like to highlight four who have recently made the news headlines with their ideas and products:

Lim Ding Wen – Doodle Kids

Lim is a 9 year-old from Singapore and is the youngest person to develop an iPhone application. He created the Doodle Kids app, a program that lets users draw pictures on the screen with their fingers. While his father is also a programmer and Lim is probably a bit of a prodigy it still goes to show that it’s never too early to start doing what you love! Lim is currently working on another iPhone app. 

Owen and Finn Voorhees – MathTime

These 9 and 11 year-old siblings developed an application called MathTime. It’s a flashcard-type app to help kids hone up on their math skills. These two also designed the app all on their own, and after being accepted by Apple, MathTime is now ranked one of the top paid educational apps.

Allen Wright – A Note to God

This 17 year-old doesn’t have the developing knowledge that Lim and the Voohees brothers did, but that’s not stopping him from going forward with his iPhone app idea. Instead, Allen has submitted his proposal for an app called “A Note to God” to a company that developed the program and then presented it to Apple under Allen’s name. The app is currently still waiting approval, but they expect to hear the decision very soon. Read the full story about Allen’s idea here.

Cameron Banga, Michael Phelps, Jeff Lange – BatteryGo!

These three college guys decided to give iPhone app developing a try instead of getting a “real” job over the summer. The app they came up with, BatteryGo!, lets users know how much talk time they have left on their phone. Though this team didn’t know much about creating an iPhone app, they were able to familiarize themselves by spending lots of time taking online tutorials. BatteryGo! is now among the top 100 paid apps in Apple’s app store. 

Photo credit: nialkennedy