Create an iPhone app, and you have a program that could become famous worldwide. Millions of people could use it every day to make their lives easier or to entertain them. It could be the topic of water cooler chats or the number one rated download. It can happen. Create an iPhone app that does not just work, but also ‘wow.’ Here’s how.

• Become familiar with the application market. New apps are being released every hour, and your idea could possibly already be in existence. Do a good bit of research and test apps that sound like yours. If you find one that is exactly like the one you have been imagining, don’t despair. Use this moment as a jumping off point and brainstorm how you can make the app even better. Once you are sure that you have an idea that would fit well into the app marketplace and does not conform exactly to an existing app, it’s time to find a developer.

• Locate an iPhone app developer who is very well-rounded. You don’t want to partner with a person who just purports to write great code or claims to be very visually creative; you are looking for the developer who has both skill sets. Find someone analytical and creative with the track record to prove it. Access some of the apps they have invented and play the impartial user. You may find a developer who is skilled at inventing exactly the type of app you have in mind.

• Discuss fees when you have chosen the professional and keep the lines of communication open. Treat this relationship like a give-and-take. If the developer has a good finger on the pulse of the app market and gives you a bit of constructive criticism regarding your app, listen to him. After all, he is the expert.

• Be involved every step of the way to ensure that your app is designed exactly how you envisioned it. If you just tell a developer your idea and expect it to look exactly like your own at the end of the project, you may be disappointed. Remember that developers are creative people who will likely form their own visual opinion of how your app should be laid out and function.