Fortune Favors the iPhone Developer

There’s really no sure way of making a buck these days—unless you write a successful app for the iPhone, the New York Times says. Professionals and amateurs alike are cashing in on the iPhone gold rush by developing applications. Cash-strapped programmer Ethan Nicholas, whose app has topped 2 million downloads, made $800,000 in 5 months. "I called my boss and said, ‘We need to talk,’” he said. “And I quit my job."

With hordes of new-age forty-niners flooding the market with copycat apps, many languish in obscurity. “There are hundreds or thousands who put all their efforts into creating something, and it gets ignored,” said an author. But app conferences and an undergraduate Stanford course remain popular. “I’m going to milk the gold rush as long as I can,” said Nicholas.
(More Apple stories.)