To say that Southern California tween Thomas Suarez is a tech wunderkind is an understatement. While most sixth graders are still trying to figure out how to manage middle school schedules, this youngster has developed two successful iPhone Apps and is in the process of establishing a company, all while managing a full load of school work.

Thomas Suarez who attends South Bay of Los Angeles Middle School, fell in love with programming when he was in Kindergarten and soon began teaching himself languages like Python, C and Java. By the time he was 11, he had become a proficient programmer and when Apple Inc. released a software development kit, he immediately took the opportunity to develop some Apps.

His first release dubbed Earth Fortune is a fun game that changes the color of the Globe depending on its prediction of how the user's day is going to go. The seven pre-determined predictions range from peaceful to fun and even bad!

While it did okay, it is his next App that got his friends and other kids excited. After noticing how unpopular teen pop idol Justin Bieber was among his peers, he developed 'Bustin Jieber' - A Whac-A-Mole game, except in this case, its not a mole users are whacking, but Justin Bieber's handsome face. The success of the game has spurred the youngster to add 'Bustin Howie' and 'Bustin Piers' apps to the list.

Following the release of two successful Apps, the youngster realized he needed to establish a company and is currently in the process of setting up Carrot Corp. He is also developing a new App, which the website claims will revolutionize the way photos are downloaded.

The best part is that the 12-year old is not stingy about sharing his knowledge and has set up an App club at his school, which is open to not only students, but also, teachers, who want his advice on how to experiment with technology in their classrooms.

The twelve-year old's amazing prowess has impressed technology experts so much that Thomas was recently invited to be a guest speaker at the Manhattan Beach gathering of TEDx - A forum where professionals gather to share radical new ideas. While most kids would have been a little intimidated with the setting, this young boy confidently shared his views on topics like tech integration in education, App access for students and how educators could make the best use of their resources.

We have a feeling we are going to hear a lot more from this young man, whose idol is none other, than the late Steve Jobs!

Resources: Huffingtonpost.com, lavistamchs.com