U.K. wireless operator Orange announced its pricing for Apple's iPhone Monday, and the handset will cost essentially the same as it does on rival carrier O2 when it debuts on Nov. 10. With a new contract, Orange customers can get a 16GB iPhone 3GS for £184.50 with a service cost of £29.36 per month, for 18 months.

The entry-level 8GB iPhone 3G can be obtained for free with a £29.36 monthly plan for two years, while a commitment of £122.34 can get a free 32GB iPhone 3GS for two years. The plans offer advertised "unlimited Internet browsing," with an asterisk stating that the company's fair usage policy of 750MB per month applies.

Orange also offers pay-as-you-go plans where the handset can be purchased for an unsubsidized price. Without a contract, the 8GB iPhone 3G costs £343, while the 32GB iPhone 3GS is £539. Pay-as-you-go offers mobile Internet browsing with a 250MB cap.

The official iPhone and iPod touch application for Wolfram Alpha, an answer engine from Wolfram Research, debuted on the App Store Monday with a $50 price tag. The math-oriented company's extensive search offers the ability to comb through curated, structured data, and aims to eventually "compute whatever can be computed about anything."

The application allows users to get expert answers to freeform questions, complete with visualizations, tables, and a wide range of data and information.

"Drawing on 20+ years of development, 50,000+ built-in algorithms, and 10+ trillion pieces of continually updated and curated data, the Wolfram|Alpha app is the ultimate replacement for almost any kind of calculator or reference book—and much more," the company said."

The application, built with the Wolfram Alpha API, features a native iPhone interface with a special notation keyboard, customized iPhone output, editable history, and integration with iPhone services such as maps.

Google on Thursday released a new feature for users of the iPhone, iPod touch and other mobile handsets called "Search Options." The new link, found in the upper right corner of search results, offers users the ability to filter search results based on a number of criteria, including the type of content and the timeframe in which it was posted.

In announcing the product on the official Google Mobile Blog, the search giant offered the following scenario:

"For example, suppose you are shopping at a store for a camera, and you would like to see what users have been saying about a specific model within the past week," it said. "You can do this simply by searching for the name of the product. Then, on the search results page, use 'Options' to filter by 'Forums' and refine further by choosing 'Past week.'"

Users can test the feature by searching on google.com and selecting the options drop-down menu.

On Monday Vonage, the voice over IP provider, announced its mobile calling application for the iPhone and iPod touch: Vonage Mobile. The free downloadable application provides low-cost international calling via Wi-Fi, or as a voice call on the iPhone.

"Our new mobile app is an important step in establishing Vonage as a software technology company that enables high-quality voice and messaging across any device in any location, providing great value over any broadband network," said Marc Lefar, CEO of Vonage.

An extensive list of Vonage Mobile international calling rates are available at the company's Web site. The application is said to be compatible with the phone's existing contact list, and properly displays caller ID on recipients' phones for outgoing calls. The software also allows real-time balance updates for users, and the ability to replenish funds automatically.

Currently, users must pre-pay for minutes. But later this year, the company intends to offer a flat rate that allows unlimited calls to over 60 countries.

CNN today debuted its news application for the iPhone and iPod touch, called CNN Mobile. Features of the software, according to network, include:

• Read all the latest news most important to you – in snack-size highlights or full stories – and share those via Facebook, Twitter and SMS
  
  
• Watch live breaking news and on-demand video clips across all news categories
  
  
• Save text and video stories to dive into later – and even save text for viewing without a connection (on flights, etc.)
  
  
• Follow topics most important to you, and receive alerts when developments in those areas are published
  
  
• File and view iReports – both photo and video – directly from the app

It's another example of mobile news outlets opting for the paid route. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal announced it would charge $2 per week for iPhone and other mobile access starting Oct. 24.

Google Sync, the service that allows users the ability to sync Gmail contacts and Google Calendar with the iPhone, has been updated to support Gmail as well, bringing push capability to the iPhone. The new feature is also available for the iPod touch and Windows Mobile devices.

"Using Google Sync, you can now get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your phone," the company said on its Mobile blog. "Having an over-the-air, always-on connection means that your inbox is up to date, no matter where you are or what you're doing. Sync works with your phone's native email application so there's no additional software needed. Only interested in syncing your Gmail, but not your Calendar? Google Sync allows you to sync just your Contacts, Calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three."

The Google Sync service is available at m.google.com/sync/. Blackberry devices and the Nokia S60 do not yet support push Gmail.

One high-profile App Store submission was approved by Apple this week, as the Vonage voice over IP software for the iPhone and iPod touch was reportedly given the green light. Vonage announced the news this week with a press release, though the software is not yet available for download. The company said the application is currently undergoing a beta test and that general availability will be announced later.

The press release did not shed any light on what the Vonage app will do. However, if it allows users to place and receive phone calls, it is virtually assured that the capability is only available via Wi-Fi. Existing VOIP applications like Skype have been held to this standard, and BitTorrent clients are banned. While BitTorrent can be used for legal purposes such as sharing of Linux distributions, it is most commonly associated with piracy of music and movies.

Two high-profile App Store releases hit Friday, with version 3.0 of the popular Facebook iPhone application and the long-awaited debut of Spotify gaining approval from Apple.

The new Facebook application allows users to see upcoming events and friends' birthdays, post updates and photos, write notes and read friends' notes, upload videos from an iPhone 3GS, change their profile picture, zoom into photos, access the same news feed as the Web site, and much more. Since its debut, the Facebook app has consistently appeared among the top 25 free App Store offerings.

The Spotify application is available in the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and Spain. The proprietary music streaming service allows users to listen to music instantly. Some had speculated Apple would not approve the software because it could be seen as a threat to iTunes. Its approval could be a positive sign for Rhapsody, which hopes to bring streaming subscriptions to the iPhone.

Real Networks announced this week it would submit its Rhapsody player iPhone application to Apple. The software would allow subscribers to the service access a library of on-demand streaming music.

"We know not everyone who uses an iPhone is a Rhapsody subscriber, but we think the app will appeal to anyone who has an affinity for music," the company's blog states. "Subscribers can just log in to the app with their existing user name and password and the experience will be seamless. Non-subscribers will have the opportunity to try the app for a limited time free-trial period."



The blog also acknowledges that it could be used to bypass buying songs from Apple's iTunes. The capabilities of the product have led to speculation as to whether Apple will approve the application. Said the Real Networks blog: "Hopefully, very soon."

The official Wikipedia application from the Wikimedia Foundation was released for the iPhone and iPod touch this week. Though there are many competing applications that access Wikipedia's extensive database, this is the first official offering.

"This app is focused on being very simple and very fast," the official description reads. "Over time, we'll add features based on requests."

Wikipedia Mobile is a free 1.6MB download that is open source and community built. The Wikimedia Foundation has asked for volunteers with expertise in JavaScript and HTML5 to assist. The application requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.