There’s a carnival of creativity taking place right now, in a hot sector of the business world. And it seems anybody with a good idea can get in.

All you have to do is create an ‘app’.

You know what I’m talking about. This abbreviation has become ubiquitous, as people everywhere search for fun and useful applications for their mobile devices. “There’s an app for that” has become a catch-phrase for all manner of unusual or even bizarre services a person may need.

(One of my favorite ones recently was the app that would block any Charlie Sheen-related news.)

And there’s no shortage of remarkable stories of people creating successful apps:

• An Edmonton-based app developer hits 7 million downloads of its “Office Jerk” app, that allows you to throw office supplies at an annoying co-worker
• A 23-year-old student from the University of Waterloo donates a million dollars to his alma mater after his messaging app (“Kik”) attracts $8 million in financing from American venture capitalists
• A free app called “Bubble Ball” written by a 14-year-old from Utah dethrones “Angry Bird Seasons” as the most popular download for the iPhone.

“The good news is that with technology being what it is these days, anybody can create an app,” says Bruce Croxon, one of the founders of Lavalife, and the new dragon on CBC Television’s Dragons’ Den program. “The bad news is, anybody can create an app.”

Croxon raises a good point. Because it no longer requires huge teams and a big investment of cash to create a product, it’s a lot easier to get in the game — and that means competition is fierce. Consider that Apple has 350,000 apps for sale for use on its iPhone and that already there are predictions that number will rise to 500,000 within the next year. I saw a report that there are 100 new apps submitted every day.

“The barrier to entry now is a marketing one,” says Croxon. “How do you cut through the clutter and get noticed?”

Well, you could hire promoters. Part of my inspiration for writing this column came from a press release I received last week, about a new app called AirRun. The name is a play on the word “errand” — this app helps you find someone to run an errand for you. “Maybe you want somebody to bring you a Snickers bar. Maybe you want somebody to come and mow your lawn,” read the release. “In addition to defining the task, you also note how much you are willing to pay for somebody to do the task for you.”

The creator of AirRun is a recent university grad from Chicago by the name of Rob Matthews. Matthews tells me on the phone he’s not a techie – he paid an app development firm $55,000 to do the coding and create the product based on his concept. I asked him about Croxon’s point, that marketing is the biggest challenge.

“We’ve hired two PR firms,” Matthews admits without hesitation. “The one that sent the press release is a more conventional firm, but we’re also using a firm that solely does social media marketing. It’s kind of expensive. We’re allocating $4500 a month to use both of the firms.”

So far, AirRun has just 4000 users. Matthews hopes it sells widely; after all, it’s a “peer to peer” application so you can only use it if other people in your area do the same.

Kamloops-based entrepreneur Tamara Vukusic doesn’t have a big budget for PR. In fact, her entire company is low-budget. She paid only $750 and a five per cent cut of the profits to the app designer who created “Spark!” an application based on her “Spark Story Starters,” a creativity-inspiring card game for families.

Despite the app being downloaded by users in 34 countries, she’s only sold about 1000.

“My boys and I look everyday to see where it’s sold and take a pin and put it on the map. It was Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Qatar and Israel today!” she says.

Vukusic thinks she could be selling a lot more, but she didn’t find out til too late how important it is to choose the “keywords” that are used in describing the app, or how critical it is to have the right name.

“When I look at the apps that are selling well in the educational category, their name pretty much described what the game is, for example, ‘Alphabet Bingo’,” she says. “I shortened my game’s name for the app, and now it doesn’t really tell what it is. And I can’t change the name without re-applying and changing the app in some way.” Victor Rubba of Edmonton certainly gave his app a good name. “Office Jerk” is a smash hit, with over 6 million downloads.

“Actually we hit seven million this morning,” says Rubba excitedly. “Not that I’m watching it like every day or anything!”

The concept: throw a crumpled-up paper ball, an eraser, a cupcake or a fan at a guy who looks like a jerk at work – or buy the “Acme Pack,” a tribute to Wile E. Coyote, which includes a golf-ball, stapler, mug, pie, and of course, dynamite.

Rubba started Fluik Entertainment in 2009, and “Office Jerk” is the 10th app the company has created.

“We had some that did OK, some that were failures, and some that were expensive failures,” says Rubba. But after each one, he fine-tuned, shrinking budgets and even teams, in order to be more cost-efficient.

“Office Jerk was the first game that I thought ahead of time, what would people who typically play games on the iPhone want? And I was right.”

Rubba didn’t do any PR for this game. He’d gone that route before with Fluik’s “Gunner Galaxies” game, and although the promotion did help attract attention from gaming magazines, and the game got favorable reviews, there were just 120,000 downloads.

Meanwhile, reviewers didn’t even want to look at “Office Jerk”.

“They said it’s entertainment. It’s not really a game,” explains Rubba. “And that was intentional. We were trying to appeal to the average person who may not play games anywhere, except on their phone when they’re bored.”

So how did the game take off? Every app that gets featured in the app store gets its moment in the sun, when it’s first introduced and featured on the highlight page.

“If you have a name that makes people smirk, and a funny icon, then people are going to try you,” says Rubba.

But when asked if a hit app is going to make him rich, Rubba mumbles “Oh I don’t know….” Like the majority of apps in the app stores, “Office Jerk” is free. App developers make their money via advertising, although some apps do carry a price tag.

New ‘dragon’ Bruce Croxon isn’t keen on investing in apps — “It’s a product, not a company” — but even as we talk, he suddenly remembers he has an idea for one.

Why am I not surprised?!