Matthew Lesh of Malvern in Victoria, 18, started work on his first app iTweetReply – which sold for $1.99 a pop – when he was 15 with the help of two other teens in Sydney, Matthew Robertsand Tom Ricciardiello, both 17. The app sent alerts to users about tweets they had received on the micro-blogging site Twitter before any other app could do so. Since then the trio have sold their app business to a UK company for “thousands”, Lesh said.

Syncode, the company behind Matthew’s iTweetReply and other apps (Synotes andSyncopy), sold “thousands” of dollars worth of apps when run by him and his Sydney co-founders, Lesh said. “The apps had their ups and down financially,” he said. “They made a little bit of money, but if divided by the hours worked on them we would have been better to get a job at McDonald’s. Personally my experiences with app development [was that it was] more of a hobby than a career path, however I have considered such an option.”

Ebony said she became interested in smartphone apps after getting an iPhone earlier this year and looked into becoming a developer. “I’ve been interested in web design [and] development for about 5 years now,” she said. “I made Lomo Ho for myself (or at least for my age group) … [and] just wanted something that was easy-to-use and would post quick, cool images to social networking sites when you are out and about.”

It took her four and a half months to create and she’s now working on another photography app which has taken about 2 weeks to make and will launch soon. “I can definitely see myself making a career out of developing apps,” she said. “I really enjoy [making them] and I have at least a dozen more ideas for apps which should keep me busy for awhile.”

This article was originally published by Fairfax, November 19 2011.