I completely disagree. Most app/website referrals aren't verbal. Verbally communicated referrals are easily forgotten (e.g. "what was that photo sharing site Mike was telling me about at the party last night?")
Most referrals are via an email that includes a URL, a blog post or tweet from someone you follow, or an email generated via the "Share" feature within the app itself. All of these eliminate the "search" problem, and reduce the time to launch significantly.
In 2012 I consider twitter, email, facebook and so on practically verbal communication. If I found out about something through a friend's tweet, I would tell you that I got it verbally, by word-of-mouth, when you asked me.
