Pew: Cell-phone applications not yet 'indispensable'

Only a quarter of American adults use the applications on their phones, according to a Pew report released on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a tenth of cell phone owners do not know if their phones have apps or not. 

It's "clear that this is the early stage of adoption when many cell owners do not know what their phone can do," said Kristen Purcell, associate director for research at the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. "The apps market seems somewhat ahead of a majority of adult cell phone users."

Purcell said to wait and see how popular apps become.

"We are clearly still in the emerging stages of this new technology, and while some cell-phone users have enthusiastically embraced apps and the entertainment and productivity they provide, others have been a little slower to respond to the trend," she said.  

They haven't become mainstream, yet, she said. 

"For now, the proportion for whom apps are indispensable is still relatively small."

See the full results here.