This is a real business and many programmers are forging a successful career from convincing people like me to part with good money for these things we really don’t need but just can’t be without.

Take, for example, Kosta Elefthrious. He’s 25, lives in London and last November had a moment of genius. For some time he’d been trying to dream up an application for iPhone users. It did not need to be useful, just fun and money spinning. Then, after months of getting nowhere he had his Eureka moment when he wiped at his steamed up bathroom mirror.

Just seven days later he had built the iSteam app. It creates steam on your iPhone and then, as you wipe it away, squeaks like your bathroom mirror would. In just four months this one app has netted him £40,000 and he’s now working on a whole host of new apps to create his first million.

There are thousands of Kostas out there, all building businesses based around mobile phone apps. Just a couple of years ago there were just a few dozen apps to choose from. Now there are 30,000 and downloads are set to rocket past 1billion in the next few weeks.

Already Apple is aware that its App Store may well become even more successful than iTunes, but it’s the young, bright app developers that make this market such a fascinating one. And with BlackBerry, Google and Nokia all set to launch their own versions of the App Store, the possibility for major corporations to grow from the likes of iSteam is not so ridiculous as it may appear. The thing is, most are so incredibly cheap. It cost me a mere 59p to download iFart. You can guess what it does and my 4-year-old son finds it hilarious. That’s not much to pay to watch your little boy curl up in hysterics as a result of some good honest toilet humour. Their cheapness is their strength. Few people even think about spending 59p and many, many thousands will do so, making some serious dosh for the developer of iFart.

There are even some useful apps out there, like my spirit level, which also cost 59p.

I have a pedometer that shows me my walking pace and even whether or not my speed is considered moderate or vigorous exercise. I can control my Sky+ box from anywhere in the world and ensure I don’t miss the latest issue of Damages. My train app tells me how late my train to London is and if there’s a better service to get. There are even apps to tell you where the speed cameras are hidden and warn you when you’re approaching one. Not that I’d ever download that for a mere £1.79.

As this apps market matures and grows beyond the bedroom it will be those that embrace a true business philosophy that will, I completely believe, become members of the next generation of billionaires.

At the moment we have Apple acting as distributor and the developers, or artists, placing their apps straight onto the store. But two crucial steps are often overlooked, those of production and promotion.

Expert guidance can make or break an app in the same way a seasoned A&R team can launch a new musical act into the stratosphere. The pay-off of seeking a complete strategy to launching a new app can be huge. A developer with two best selling apps in the top 100 can rake in up to $15m during the lifetime on those apps if he or she markets them correctly.

Unfortunately, the only developing that is ever done on my computer is the development of a virus, so I will not be joining those young guns on their way to fortunes. But I am certain we will all be reading about people just like Kostas in the rich lists of years to come.