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But that doesn't mean you can't make a decent living in the mobile app market. Although competition for mobile users' attention is fierce, there are ways to steadily build your user base and monetize your app's content. During the Sloan Hi-Tech Conference at MIT this week, five veterans from the mobile app industry dished out tips for up-and-coming mobile companies for building lasting business models and ensuring that their apps don't end up as the mobile equivalent of Pets.com. In no particular order, here are some of the nuggets of wisdom.

Don't assume you're going to be Instagram. Sure, you'd love to have Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ring you up and offer $1 billion for your yet-to-be-monetized application, but the chances of that happening are slim. This is why it's best to take a long-term view of what has to be done to gradually make your app successful, which invariably means establishing a business plan to monetize your app and thus show venture firms that you will be able to create a steady revenue stream.

"When you look at OMGPOP, Facebook and Instagram, those are the one-percent of the top one percent of startups out there," said George Bell, CEO of Jumptap. "If you're a normal startup, you're going to have to go through rounds of funding and you're going to have to prove that you have a sustainable model."