Business Daily - Corruption in Africa - and the apps economy

Can you make money from Apple apps? And the World Bank spots "quiet corruption" in Africa. How is it different from other corruption?

The World Bank has just published a damning raft of statistics, showing the breadth of the problem, in its "Africa Development Indicators, 2010". It's particularly concerned about what it calls "quiet corruption", the small incidents that together cripple an economy. Its chief economist for Africa, Shanta Devarajan, explained.

There's a new techie dream out there among young, bright people, and that is to invent a game or an application for an iPhone. It's a bit like winning the lottery: in your spare time you design and write software, and then you get it licenced by Apple who tend to keep a tight control on use - and the next thing you know hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing into your bank account as your app becomes the hot new thing.

There are now about 140,000 apps - from ones which locate women's toilets on the London tube network, to identifying bird songs or just playing a game. Mark Gregory reports on the rise of the app economy.