7-Year-Old Developer's iPhone App 'Toaster Pop' to Shake Angry Birds' Roost

Apple's App Store has opened a new realm for ingenious entrepreneurs looking to cash in on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ubiquity.

The iOS platform is no respecter of age, a fact which was most recently underscored by the emergence of a 7-year-old iPhone app developer Connor Zamary.

The first grader Connor is not merely a developer but is a well evolved technology entrepreneur. In an interview given to CNET Connor's father Craig Zamary said: He pitched investors, made his own PowerPoint, filled out the paperwork for his LLC all by himself, has done conference calls with the West Coast developers.

His idea is currently available as an iPhone game for 99 cents under the moniker Toaster Pop on Apple Apps Store. The game leverages on the simple act of spreading butter and other condiments on a slice of bread. The website defines the game as: Toaster Pop is fun and easy to play! Swipe toppings onto each slice of toast as you race against the clock.

Connor's eureka moment came when his father referred to old styled toasters. He then expanded the idea by recruiting a developer to build the app and also incorporated inputs from family and friends.

The game has multiple levels which includes various spreads starting with butter and moving on to grape jam, strawberry jam, apricot jam, peanut butter and ending with The Works!

Connor said that the toughest part of the whole process was putting up a pitch for investors which made him nervous.

However, this is not the first time that a youngster has capitalized on the iPhone app success. In January a 14-year old developer, Robert Nay, came into prominence when his app Bubble Ball became the most downloaded game, toppling Angry Birds from the top free apps list on the Apple App Store. Bubble Ball was downloaded more than 3 million times.

The 8^th grader Robert Nay built the app with his mother Kari Nay using Corona SDK. Corona is a mobile app development platform from Ansca Mobile. Ansca Mobile reports in its Blog that Robert's mom charted the design of the game on paper while Robert did the programming.

The budding gaming maestro has been coding for the past six years using languages like HTML, PHP, AJAX and Java Script.

Bubble Ball is a physics puzzle that involves getting a bubble from point A to point B through different routes. The movement of the bubble is assisted by geometric pieces which can be used to create ramps, platforms and catapults to send the bubble to its destination.

Mobile gaming is a burgeoning industry, as Gartner forecast global revenues from the industry to rise 19 percent to more than $5.6 billion in 2010.

The biggest take from the upcoming breed of developers as young as 7-year-old Connor is the ease of app development and marketing that Apple iOS platform offers. Apple's App Store infrastructure with its iTunes offers developers an excellent platform for marketing of apps and processing payments, an advantage which has given Apple iOs a huge mindshare which is reflected in the 500,000 apps in Apple App Store.