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That time of year when Apple offers discounts for holiday shoppers is fast approaching. The company has launched its online Gift Guide to help shoppers find the perfect electronic gift. This year, Apple is focusing heavily on the iPad mini, the latest iOS device to hit the market.

Besides encouraging iPad sales, several accessories are highlighted that can be used in conjunction with iOS devices. Everything from Mac computers to iPhones and musical instruments can be shipped for free on the Apple online store. Apple's Gift Guide is not the only way to find the perfect item for friends and family. Holiday shopping apps such as whohas.it can track hard-to-find items and send alerts directly to your iOS device when a product becomes available.

Nokia plans to enter the Maps fray by bringing its own mapping application to iOS and Android devices. The company announced on Tuesday it is preparing to release a maps app called "Here" in the Apple App Store. The new application will be free for iPhone, iPad and iPod owners.

Nokia hopes offering the application free of charge to iPhone users will help keep the mapping platform competitive. Stephen Elop, chief executive of Nokia, said in an interview that the app needs users to help make the system smarter, but Nokia doesn't plan on giving all of its services away for free. For example, the City Lens app, which allows users to see information about a location when pointing the camera at it, will remain a Lumia phone exclusive.

“For the location platform to be at the highest quality, one needs scale, and you need as many different people contributing as possible,” Mr. Elop said. “Of course, Nokia will build apps, some of them unique to Lumia devices, that gain a competitive advantage for Nokia.”

Apple looks to be on track for an iPhone 5 launch in China just two months after its initial release in the US. According to a report cited by MacRumors, China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu expects the iPhone 5 to be approved by the government in early December.

The market for mobile devices in China is expansive and includes the world's largest carrier, China Mobile with 665 million subscribers. Grey market iPhone 5 units imported from other countries are already in high demand. The iPhone 4 rapidly sold out after its launch in China during September 2010.

The latest major update to the iOS Apple Store app is here. Passbook integration was expected but Apple didn't stop there. Users of the app can now use Siri to get information about Apple products using voice queries.

Changes have been made to point-of-sale devices in Apple's retail stores to complement the additional functionality found in the Apple Store app. Passbook-ready digital gift cards came online just yesterday, and can now be purchased, gifted and used to pay for Apple products.

AT&T has decided to stop charging some of its customers for using FaceTime over a cellular connection. iOS 6 customers with an LTE device on any tiered data plan will be able to use the feature at no extra charge. This also includes deaf and hard of hearing customers who qualify for "special text and data-only packages".

AT&T felt it needed to limit the amount of FaceTime calls out of fear that its network was not ready to handle the surge of video calls. The company added it will "also continue to offer FaceTime over Cellular to customers with any AT&T Mobile Share plan, as well as FaceTime over Wi-Fi, which has always been available for all customers".