Be it a BlackBerry, iPhone or any smart phone, we have fallen in love with apps – the applications for the phone that let us do all kinds of things.

This has created a new industry featuring those who write the apps. This coming June 22 at the Velvet Room on York Street will be Ottawa's first Apps Showcase.

Half a dozen firms will show off their apps and discuss what it takes to survive in the apps world. The companies as a group have already produced apps that have been downloaded 10 million times.

The numbers are amazing for apps overall: at the Apple online store alone, in about three years, some five billion downloads generating over $1.3 billion dollars in revenue. Research firm Juniper predicts the market could be worth $32 billion dollars in just five years' time.

Rob Woodbridge was CEO of an Ottawa firm that built a very sophisticated application for Blackberry phones.

Now he advises those getting into the app business, "there's a fever out there. The iPhone started it all when it launched, and now people say I can create an app that is not out there now, and it really has become a passion for them."

In addition to the Apple online store, there are now similar operations run by Blackberry, Android and Nokia to name a few. How hot is the market? Well, Ottawa's resident tech billionaire, Terry Matthews has a stable of companies under development – including an apps firm called Glitchsoft.

The CEO is Wes Tam, a young man with a drive to create video games, and just this week he and his staff of 3 others launched Barstar. It's an app that allows you to play a video game on your phone where you have to manage a bar. It has already reached into the top rankings of downloads.

Tam says, "I think we have created something that is fun, challenging, creative and engaging. This can be a brutal business: 70 percent of revenues for an app will be made within two months of the release. So you need to be ready with the next offering."

That pace is one of the things that attracts Tam. "I hope we can create a franchise with this, and next up is to create a version for the iPad and for the iPhone 4."

Will Hicki started his firm, WICKsoft, four years ago. So he was way ahead of the curve.

His app allows business people to access documents and information they need on their phone.

He sees the business evolving and becoming much more sophisticated.

"I don't think we have even seen the real beginning of this business. People have always wanted this mobile access to information. Look at Dick Tracy and his wrist phone. Decades ago it was an idea, and now the technology is here."

Rob Woodbridge has now interviewed nearly 70 of the world's leading developers of apps. He posts their comments on his website untether.tv.

He thinks prices for apps are about to rise as they become more complex; the industry is due for a shakeout.

"You have to be persistent. You have to an idea for something that is relevant to people's lives, and it's obviously important to do development work and build the app. But it's even more important to do the work to make people aware of your app, and to make sure its there in front of them when they are ready to buy."