According to a Tuesday-released survey by the Pew Internet Project, that the popularity of applications is on the rise is evident from the fact that almost one-quarter of cellphone users in the US are now using their handsets for running apps.

Though the so-called app boom began notably after the 2008-opening of the App Store, followed closely by the Google Android Market, the popularity of apps started growing substantially after Apple’s launch of the first iPhone in 2007 – a launch that marked the advent of what Pew describes as the “apps culture.”

The report said: “As the mobile phone has morphed from a voice device to a multi-channel device to an Internet-accessing mini-computer, a large market of mobile software applications, or ‘apps,’ has arisen.”

As per Pew statistics, 35 percent of US adults currently have apps on their mobile phones; though only 24 percent of them actually use the programs. Interestingly, 11 percent of cellphone owners, most of them older users, are not sure whether their handset is equipped with apps.

The Pew report also revealed that the use of apps is still far less then the use of cellphones for other activities – while 76 percent cellphone owners take pictures on their handsets; 72 percent send or receive text messages; 38 percent access the Internet; 34 percent play games, send or receive emails or record a video; and 33 percent use the device to play music.