KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Designing a killer iPhone app could net you big bucks

Designing a killer iPhone app could net you big bucks

SPOKANE, Wash. - You've likely seen Apple's "There's an app for that" commercials which tout the plethora of applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

The slogan isn't a lie.

There are apps that will let you dial the iPhone like an old-fashioned rotary phone, another that will simplify sharing contact information, a tool to help you find nearby restrooms, a multitude of applications to help you find food and friends around you and others to keep you connected to MySpace, Facebook, Skype, AIM and Twitter.

With more than 30,000 applications downloaded more than one billion times, Apple has created a small economy.

For someone with some development skills, time, and a knack for marketing and originality, business is booming.

"Years ago this wasn't on the radar as game developers, and now look how central it is to our lives," said Simeon Peebler, who recently published his first application, "Blip Bloink."

The Tetris-like game costs $.99 per download, of which he gets to keep 70 percent.

Apple keeps the rest.

As the Game Development Chair at Flashpoint Academy, Peebler said the opportunity to make money is what attracts many to the application-building business.

"If you really attack writing applications for the iPhone with a good business mind, you can support yourself and make $100,000 a year or so selling applications," said Alex Cone, who travels the country running what he calls an "iPhone Boot Camp," which teaches people how to create applications.

If you create the next hot app, don't forget there are applications to help you manage all that money.