Yahoo on Wednesday released a preview version of a free new iPhone application called OneConnect that can centralize communications and social-networking activity.

“OneConnect allows everybody to keep connected to the persons they care about. It’s a socially connected address book,” said said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Yahoo Connected Life, in a speech here at the CTIA Wireless show. “The address book now comes to life.”

Yahoo is racing against Google and others to bring more applications to mobile devices in an effort to tap into the growth of mobile Internet use. Previous Yahoo applications such as OneSearch and Go compete against Google applications including Gmail, Search, and Maps.