MacRumors

iOS devices accounted for 73 percent of all enterprise mobile device activations and grabbed the top ten spots for most popular devices in the fourth quarter of 2013, reports Good Technology in its Mobility Index Report for Q4 2013.

From a device perspective, we continued to see an increase in iOS activations this quarter, which we can attribute to two new iPhone models coming to market just before the start of the quarter. The overall number of device activations has increased 34 percent from Q1 to Q4 of this year, indicating strong, continued growth and adoption of the Good Secure Mobility Solution. As many organizations are migrating away from BlackBerry to meet end user demand and embrace newer platforms like iOS and Android, they are deploying Good’s cross-platform solution to secure both their data and devices.

Good obtains this data from its customers that use the company's Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform. Its customer base includes many Fortune 500 companies in commercial banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, and government. The device usage report from these enterprise users shows that the iPhone made up 54 percent of total device activations, while Android smartphones followed with just over 20 percent.

The iPad maintains a strong hold on tablet activations, claiming 91.4 percent of enterprise tablet activations in Q4 2013, while Android accounted for the remaining 8.6 percent. The iPad was most popular in Financial Services and in Business and Professional Services, with the two sectors accounting for 60 percent of all Q4 iPad activations.

Apple routinely highlights corporate adoption of iOS devices during press events and earning conference calls. During Apple's recent quarterly earnings conference call, CEO Tim Cook confirmed "the enterprise area has huge potential" and said he expects Apple "would have more and more payback in the future" due to the company's investment in this area.

At the same time the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is easing restrictions on the in-flight use of electronics for passengers, it is tightening its rules on electronics usage by pilots. A new FAA rule (PDF) published on Tuesday prohibits the personal use of electronic devices by flight crew members while an aircraft is being operated. It is an addendum to the FAA's 1981 "Sterile Cockpit" rule that requires pilots to refrain from non-essential activities during critical phases of flight.

This final rule will prohibit flightcrew members in operations under part 121 from using a personal wireless communications device or laptop computer for personal use while at their duty station on the flight deck while the aircraft is being operated. This rule, which conforms FAA regulations with legislation, is intended to ensure that certain non-essential activities do not contribute to the challenge of task management on the flight deck or a loss of situational awareness due to attention to non-essential tasks.

This FAA rule is a response to earlier instances of distracted flying by commercial airline pilots. In one 2009 incident, two pilots for Northwest, now Delta Air Lines, overshot their destination airport by 150 miles because they were using their personal laptops. During a 78-minute period, neither pilot noticed communications sent by company dispatchers and air traffic control. They only corrected course after a flight attendant called the cockpit to check on the flight's estimated time of arrival.

Though the personal use of electronic devices is banned, the FAA rule does permit the essential use of electronic flightbooks in the cockpit. Several US airlines, including JetBlue, American Airlines and United, have adopted iPads to replace heavy flight bags. These iPads are equipped with key flight charts, reference documents and checklists necessary for the operation of the aircraft.

While pilots must pay attention while flying, a recent FCC proposal would allow passengers to make phone and data calls while flying. In response to consumer opposition to in-flight calling, lawmakers are drafting a bill that would ban in-flight phone calls, says the Associated Press.

"Most passengers would like their flights to go by as quickly and quietly as possible," Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., the committee's chairman and sponsor of the bill, said. "When it comes to cellphones on planes, tap don't talk."

The bill requires the Department of Transportation to issue regulations that would prohibit phone calls during flight. The bill has passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and will move to the floor for discussion.

Fuse Chicken, the company behind the multi-function Une Bobine iPhone stand, today launched a new product on crowd-funding site Indiegogo. Called the TogoDock, Fuse Chicken’s newest iPhone accessory combines a magnet-laden mount with an integrated charging cable, allowing users to turn any surface into a dedicated charging station.

The TogoDock can be mounted on any surface, from a wall to a car dash to a refrigerator. A built-in cable connects to the Lightning port of an iPhone on one end while the USB end can plug into a computer, a charger, or a car port.

"Our goal is to make everyday interaction with technology simple," said Jon Fawcett, CEO of Fuse Chicken. "Our newest device lets you mount and charge your iPhone anywhere – in the car as a GPS, in the kitchen to follow recipes, next to the bed as an alarm clock; togoDock is simple, cool and useful, and it fits right into your pocket."

The TogoDock can be mounted directly onto a magnetic surface using its embedded magnets, but may also stick to non-magnetic surfaces with an included self-adhesive disc mount. The product includes a built-in backstop for support along with a cable cord wrap and a car adapter.

Customers can purchase a TogoDock with a $30 pledge on Indiegogo and the first 200 backers will also receive a 3D printed PLUGdock designed to convert a standard iPhone charging cord into an outlet-mounted dock.

At CES last month, LaCie announced its "Fuel" wireless hard drive for iOS and Mac devices, allowing users to easily expand storage for their devices. With the Fuel now available for purchase, LaCie has given MacRumors some hands-on time with the Fuel, showing that the device does indeed live up to its billing for those willing to carry around an extra device as needed.

Similar to the Wireless Plus from parent company Seagate, LaCie's Fuel offers a 1 TB drive to provide ample storage for media, with iOS device users able to access content through the Seagate Media app.

With Fuel connecting wirelessly to iOS devices, the device also supports Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, allowing it to connect to an existing Wi-Fi network and passing that connectivity through to devices connected wirelessly to Fuel. Macs can connect to Fuel either wirelessly or via USB 3.0, as Fuel features a micro USB 3.0 port and an adapter cable to connect to standard USB ports on other devices. The cable can also be used to charge Fuel through an included AC adapter. Users looking for fast file transfer from their Mac should obviously opt for a wired USB 3.0 connection over the Wi-Fi option.

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Whole Foods has partnered with Square to deploy its iPad checkout system inside the grocery store chain at counters selling ready-to-consume products like pizza, coffee and sandwiches, supplementing the chain's traditional checkout lanes at the front of the store.

Reports TIME:

The company has signed a deal to put its iPad-based payment systems inside Whole Food Market grocers in the U.S., where they’ll be used at counters that sell ready-to-consume products — from pizza and sandwiches to coffee, beer and wine — as a supplement to the conventional checkouts at the front of the store. Customers will be able to pay with credit and debit cards, cash and, in some locations, by using the Square Wallet smartphone app. The idea is to expedite things both for people making a quick purchase from one of these venues and for those who are at the checkouts with a cartful of groceries.

It's unclear if Whole Foods will use the Square Stand cash register or some other iPad solution, but TIME says some locations will support the Square Wallet app.

The deal makes Whole Foods the second major retailer to roll out Square's technology. In 2012, Square and Starbucks formed a partnership that saw Square take over credit card processing at Starbucks stores in the U.S.

Following the removal of Flappy Bird from the App Store, some entrepreneurial iPhone owners have listed their phones -- with Flappy Bird installed -- on eBay.

The listings have attracted attention from major media outlets, but eBay is actively canceling the listings because all smartphones and tablets sold on the auction site are required to be restored to factory settings. One user gave MacRumors the email that eBay sent him when it removed his listing.

After reviewing your eBay account, it appears that you have not followed eBay's guidelines to list a device that can hold media or software. As a result, we've taken the following action:

- Listings have been removed.
- We have credited all associated fees except for the final value fee for your listing(s).

Smartphones and tablets must be restored to factory settings before they are allowed to be sold on eBay. Please remove all content from your device, including the game Flappy Bird, before you attempt to list your item again. Please be sure your current and future listings follow these guidelines, keeping in mind that additional listing violations could result in the suspension of your account.

We understand that you may have been unaware of these guidelines, and we encourage you to learn how to keep your experiences on eBay successful.

We appreciate your cooperation.
Thanks,

eBay

Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen said in an interview earlier today that his game became "an addictive product" and he removed the app to protect users from the game. iPhone owners who have already downloaded Flappy Bird can continue to play it as Nguyen cannot delete the app from phones where it is already installed.

Thanks Blake!

Apple has reversed a change it made to how users quit location-aware apps in iOS 7. In the new OS, Apple changed how location-aware applications work when they are force-quit by users. In iOS 7.0, users who force quit an app -- by double-tapping the home button and swiping up -- also disable all location-aware functions which previously would continue to run in the background.

One app in particular, Life360, uses background location abilities to allow family and friends to locate each other. In iOS 7, when a user force quits the app, all location-aware background services were disabled. This caused the company to have a sudden influx of negative reviews and disappointed customers. Some apps even saw 30-50 percent drops in users following the change, according to Life360 CEO Chris Hulls who spoke to MacRumors yesterday.

Now, in iOS 7.1 beta 5, released a week ago, the change has been reversed and Hulls attributes that to a letter that Life360 and a number of other developers sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook on February 1. In the beta, background location services remain running when an app is force quit, same as in iOS 6.

VentureBeat has the first several paragraphs of the letter:

Dear Apple iOS Development Team,

We are a group of Apple developers who rely on iOS geolocation services for core parts of our businesses. iOS 7 was hugely exciting to us, as new features such as Location Beacons, Background Networking, and Multi-Peer Connectivity give us the ability to do things we never thought were possible.

In previous versions of iOS, if a user killed an application in the app switcher, developers were still able to get geolocation in the background. With iOS 7, once a user kills an application, all processes are terminated until the user manually restarts the app. We appreciate the intent behind this change, which we realize was done to give users more control over what is running on their phones, but it has caused major unintended consequences. … Many developers who rely on background geolocation have seen their app ratings fall by over 3 stars.

Life360 is a free download on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Sprint today announced that it sold 5.6 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 20.5 million smartphones for the year. It is unclear how many of those smartphones were iPhones as the carrier is following Verizon Wireless and AT&T in not breaking down its smartphone sales or activations by platform.

Sprint added 682,000 customers in the last three months of the calendar year, bringing its total customer base to 53.9 million subscribers. Total retail postpaid churn was 2.15%, down slightly from the 2.18% measured in the year ago quarter. The company reported a loss of $1 billion, which is less than the $1.3 billion it lost in Q4 2012.

Sprint ended the year with 53.9 million Sprint platform subscribers – its highest level ever – after adding 58,000 postpaid subscribers, 322,000 prepaid subscribers and 302,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers in the fourth quarter. Sprint sold 5.6 million smartphones in the fourth quarter and 20.5 million smartphones for the year with smartphone sales mix reaching 95 percent for postpaid and 66 percent for prepaid in the quarter.

Earlier this year, Sprint competitor Verizon announced smartphone activations of 8.8 million along with 1.7 million new subscribers in Q4 2013, while AT&T activated 1.2M postpaid smartphones and gained 809,000 new subscribers in the quarter.

Sprint becomes the first US carrier to lose money this quarter as it continues to struggle. Recent rumors suggest Sprint parent company Softbank may be interested in acquiring rival T-Mobile, but regulators have already expressed opposition to the deal.