Young Brothers Invent Bestselling iPhone App

Think all of the bestselling iPhone apps are created by Silicon Valley geniuses in their spare time? As it turns out, the technology is child's play.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on July 02 2009

A screenshot of MathTime installed on the Gimundo iPod. A quick test reveals you are never to old to brush up on your math skills.

If you’ve got an iPhone, there’s no doubt you’ve discovered the addictive world of iPhone apps. From the teensy versions of Sim City and Scrabble to the bizarre Photoshop-esque Face Melter to Twitterific (one of the many apps that lets us Twitter addicts keep an eye on our streams at all times), there’s an app for every person and every purpose. But have you ever tried to build one yourself?

It may seem like the sort of challenge that only an ultra-tech savvy genius could accomplish, but you might be surprised to learn that one of the online store’s bestselling apps was created by someone who’s still years away from high school, let alone an illustrious job in Sillicon Valley: 11-year-old Owen Voorhees.

The boy from Hinsdale, Illinois has always been passionate about computers and technology, but developing an app from scratch was a little beyond what he’d learned in his school computer classes. So Owen spent nine months studying programming languages and college computer science textbooks, teaching himself all the skills necessary to develop an educational iPhone app, MathTime. The game works as a simple flash card-like device, showing users a basic math problem before revealing the answer on the next screen.

Though MathTime’s premise is fairly basic, it seems that simplicity sells: as of last month, the app was the 13th biggest bestseller in the educational category, and has sold over 140 copies in a single day.

“It’s really cool to make something work, to make a little money, to do something like this,” Owen told Inc. Magazine.

And Owen isn’t the only budding entrepreneur in his family: his 9-year-old brother Finn designed all of the symbols used in the game. Sounds like the next tech dynasty has already begun.

Filed under: Business, General Interest,

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