Verizon wirelessly backs all your contacts to an online serve that they have. You generally programm it to update every 24hours when you are least likely to be using it (when your sleeping).
If you ever lose your phone, it get's stolen, or wet, you can simply re download back up assistant on your new phone and it will upload all of your contacts.
Also, you can go online and make changes vs. doing it in your phone.
The application isn't as crucial for this phone like it is for your standard handsets.