Yes, there's an app for that, but if you're like most cell phone users, you couldn't care less.
While there has been a proliferation of software applications, or "apps," for mobile phones that can access the Internet, adults using those phones apparently see little value in them, or haven't bothered to learn how to use them.
A report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds some 35 percent of U.S. adults have apps on their phones, yet only 24 percent of adults use those apps. Many adults who have apps on their phones, particularly older adults, do not use them, and 11 percent of cell owners are not sure if their phone is equipped with apps, according to the report.
Among cell phone owners, 29 percent have downloaded apps to their phone and 13 percent have paid to download apps.
Apps culture
"An apps culture is clearly emerging among some cell phone users, particularly men and young adults," said Kristen Purcell, Associate Director for Research at the Pew Internet Project. "Still, it is clear that this is the early stage of adoption when many cell owners do not know what their phone can do. The apps market seems somewhat ahead of a majority of adult cell phone users."
Apps include everything from games to GPS functions. Apple boasts more than 200,000 apps available for the iPhone. Developers seem to turn out hundreds more daily, both for consumers and businesses.
"This is a pretty remarkable tech-adoption story, if you consider that there was no apps culture until two years ago," said Roger Entner, co-author of the report and senior vice president and head of Research and Insights for Telecom Practice at Nielsen. "Every metric we capture shows a widening embrace of all kinds of apps by a widening population. It's too early to say what this will eventually amount to, but not too early to say that this is an important new part of the technology world of many Americans."
The report is based on a Pew Internet telephone survey of 2,252 U.S. adults age 18 and older, conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between April 29 and May 30, 2010.
