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If having some issue with AT&T; - maybe a bad experience, maybe poor reception in your area - has been keeping you from picking up an iPhone, you might be interested to hear about a new sales policy for the smartphone, no longer forcing commitment to an AT&T; contract as a contingency to the phone's purchase.

That's not to say that Apple is selling wide-open, free-to-use-where-you-please iPhones either; it's more of a compromise that will still force potential buyers to do a little footwork to get their phones up and running. First off, you're going to be stuck paying full price for the handset, which starts at $500 for the 8GB iPhone 3G (3GS models are $600 and up). Even with no contract set up at the time of purchase, the iPhone will still be AT&T-locked;, so you're going to have to go all hacker and unlock your phone before signing up with a different carrier. That alone could turn off plenty of potential buyers, even with automated unlocking tools available.

Once you drop the cash and get your hack on, your brand-new fully-unlocked iPhone would still be limited by its technology, only compatible with AT&T; and T-Mobile in the US. Works out if you're a huge T-Mobile fan, but the lack of CDMA support really limits carrier options. Travelers might have some better luck, as the iPhone's GSM connection is widely supported around world. Check out your local Apple store if interested.

Apple hasn't been too willing in letting app developers create programs that directly compete with functions already provided by Apple, but Opera is testing the waters to see if the company may have loosened up in its stance with this application.

Unlike proper browsers that retrieve and display web pages all on their own, Opera Mini has the help of Opera's servers, which re-compress web content for optimal viewing and transfer times to mobile devices. While you might not be interested in a service that degrades image quality, for instance, on a desktop PC, the idea makes a lot of sense for smartphones. Why waste your bandwidth downloading a large JPEG when you phone's only going to have to scale it down to a fraction of its size for display a moment later? Opera claims that its processing increases browsing speed up to six times.

Opera is counting the seconds since it made its application to the App Store, calling Apple out to face a challenger for best iPhone browser. There's no word on how long a decision will take, nor what Opera will charge for Opera Mini, would it to be approved.

An alarm clock, digital photo frame, portable movie display, and Skype station all in one, the iLuv IMM190 dock makes iPhone and iTouch capabilities all the more useful while keeping your beloved gadget secure and charged.

Featuring dynamic acoustic speakers, the iMM190 easily rotates horizontally or vertically to match its temporary purpose.

Available online for $90 from iLuv and elsewhere, the coordinating software downloads free from Apple's iTunes Store.

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Cyclists sick of juggling an iPhone while trying to ride will appreciate this waterproof iPhone case that easily attaches to any set of handlebars. Made by the sustainability-driven bike company Dahon, the BioLogic bike mount allows for tracking of speed, GPS, and distance, using apps like EveryTrail (free) or MotionX GPS ($3). The adjustable accessory also securely pivots the phone from portrait to landscape positions, an essential capability for those who want to take pictures or videos—a built-in membrane shields the lens.

The silicon liner keeps the phone in place, while a hard outer shell protects it from the elements. Safeguarded openings offer weatherproof support for headphones and charging cables too.

The BioLogic bike mount sells from Dahon for $60 or from Amazon.

The next iteration of Apple's iPhone OS is set to finally take a big step towards making the smartphone more of a serious portable computing device, enabling users to switch between multiple apps running in tandem.

The lack of multitasking has been a long-time thorn in the side of Apple's most popular product, forcing you to shut each app down anytime you need to run another, even if just for a few seconds. It's not that the iPhone can't multitask - parts of the OS do this already - but that Apple won't let the apps you download do it. There are plenty of reasons for such a restriction: memory concerns, lack of a convenient app-switching mechanic, battery consumption, preventing spyware.

It's not yet clear just how Apple plans on addressing all those issues when it enable full-on multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0, but the news that it has is sure to be well overdue for the growing number of mobile users who have eschewed their laptops for smartphones.

Apple isn't breaking with its secretive reputation, so there's no estimate at the moment of when we can expect the software to be released. Reports of its still having a lot of work to be completed indicate "later" rather than "sooner". Hopefully we'll hear some whispers of the anticipated date as it approaches.

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