In today’s economy, it’s a challenge to find an industry that is experiencing rapid job growth — and actually has job opportunities available.  Though there is one industry that seems to be exploding: the App industry.  Yes, the same apps that are running on your smartphone, tablet and Facebook page this very minute.

The demand for applications for everything ranging from games to quantum physics has created 466,000 jobs in the U.S. since 2007, according to an analysis released Tuesday by technology trade group TechNet.  –USAToday Tech

The app economy launched back in 2007, when the iPhone and Facebook started expanding their reach into games and other applications. Today, there are over 500,000 iPhone/iPad apps, over 400,000 on the Android market and hundreds games on Facebook.

Apps come in two versions: free or paid, with the main difference being advertising.  While free apps depend on ads in order to generate revenue, paid apps tend to be “ad-free” and rely upon revenue generated from the cost of the app itself.  Both free and paid apps can be created by anyone, from young entrepreneurs to major companies.  And one of the largest app creating companies – Zynga, Inc. – employs nearly 2,800 people!  This is the company that has come up with popular app games such as Farmville for Facebook, as well as Words with Friends and many others.

With society’s adoption of smartphone mobile devices, major companies are trying to tie their products together.  That includes the expansion of apps for regular, everyday tasks. For example at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung showed off a brand new washing machine app! Ever think you’d be doing laundry from your phone?  This is just one example of how people are beginning to depend on apps in their daily life. And greater dependency = a very profitable, very fast-growing app industry.

Keep in mind, not all jobs in the app industry require “techy” credentials.  Apps are creating jobs in sales, marketing, HR and other administrative areas.  Not only that, but the app economy doesn’t require the infrastructure of other industries — “All that is really required…is a good idea and online access.”

So look out! The “app economy” is already booming, and is expected to explode within the next year.