It’s crunch time for TrackR, that startup that lets you use an app to find items like keys, wallets and bags that have been tagged with its small Bluetooth-based tracking devices. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that the company has laid off a substantial proportion of its staff, as it seeks to sharpen its focus amid a wider market contraction for item-tracking businesses.

The company did not confirm how many have been let go, nor how many are remaining in a statement that it provided to TechCrunch via a spokesperson:

“As TrackR’s strategy evolves, the organization needs to evolve, too,” it notes. “The recent rebalancing of TrackR’s workforce is to ensure the company remains efficient and focused on areas that will deliver on TrackR’s vision. The company is continuing to position itself to lead the item finding space.:

A source tells TechCrunch, however, there were 42 employees let go (a number also noted in this recent review on Glassdoor). LinkedIn lists just over 90 connected to the the company (including investors and board members), while PitchBook notes 35 employees, meaning that this could be more than half of TrackR’s staff.

The downsizing comes at a tricky time, both for TrackR and the wider space of device tracking startups.

From a high point of raising $50 million in August 2017 at a valuation of just over $201 million –investors included Steve Case’s Revolution Growth, Amazon (via its Alexa Fund), the Foundry Group, Docomo Capital and others — Trackr has had a series of stumbles, some unforeseen.

In December, Chris Herbert — who co-founded the company with Christian Smith in Santa Barbara after one of them lost a set of keys on the beach when surfing (the startup was originally called Phone Halo) — stepped down as the CEO (we believe Smith is still at the company as president). Herbert was replaced by COO Nate Kelly, who is now leading the company.

In the same period of time, natural disaster also hit the company, with the area where TrackR and its employees are based hit first by fires, and then mudslides. A separate contact told TechCrunch that the fire crisis was the reason for TrackR backing out of having much of a presence at this year’s CES — which is otherwise a major event for hardware companies.

The layoffs, which seem to have taken place in the last several weeks, are not the only ones in the device tracking market. Tile, TrackR’s closest rival, laid off dozens of employees in January after a disappointing holiday sales season.

TrackR has not cited sales problems for its own layoffs, and our original source for this story claimed it was more due to the company burning through cash too fast.

“They are calling it restructuring, but they are burning cash at an alarming rate,” the source said.

For what it’s worth, Amazon.com currently lists three TrackR products in its top-10 bestsellers in GPS tracking devices, two versions of its basic Pixel model for $19.99 and $49.99, and a 10-pack for $99.99.

Tile’s products do not make the top 10 (they appear elsewhere), but a look at the wider list, and the dozens of companies making similar devices at a wide range of price points, makes you realise just how crowded the market for these gadgets is today, and what kind of pressure that would put on those trying to claim leadership in the area.

TrackR to date has raised around $63 million and has been trying to differentiate itself by taking is tech outside of its own hardware.

The company has been working with other companies (such as A.T. Cross, the pen maker) to incorporate its tracking tech into their own devices, as part of a Works with Trackr program.

Smith, the co-founder, has also spoken in the past about the company’s ambitions to go beyond its existing tracking of smaller items based on Bluetooth and mapping. One idea, he told me in November last year, was to expand to more enterprise applications, for example measuring and “tracking” how machines are working in factories using diagnostics connected to soundwaves (machines humming differently when they are broken versus when they are working) and other details of this kind. Whether longer-term plans like these are still possibilities in the current climate remains to be seen.

Echoing some complaints about the two services heard in other countries, including from United States users, Indian customers said that Apple Maps has sparse data for a number of cities and towns, misses landmarks, and lacks basic turn-by-turn directions. One user in Bangalore, Mihir Sharma, summed it up by stating, “Apple Maps is a joke in India.”

Other mapping complaints in India included the lack of similar navigation features within CarPlay. CNBC’s report on the topic comes nearly two years after Apple announced the opening of a new Hyderabad-based development center focused on improving Apple Maps in India.

Otherwise, many of the issues users had with Apple in the country focused on Siri, which is said to not understand “many words of Indian origination” and “often struggles” to make sense and correctly respond to Indian accents. Apple added Hindi dictation in iOS 11 last fall, including support for 11 local languages, but those locals asked said it still “isn’t good enough.” Rival AI assistants from Google and Amazon are both reported as performing better in India.

The poor performance of Apple’s services in India carries into the low sale volumes of its hardware, and analyst Faisal Kawoosa explained that the “Apple ecosystem isn’t aligned much to the usage and value of Indian users.” Data gathered by research firm Counterpoint said that Apple represented a total of 2.5 percent of India’s smartphone market as of the quarter that ended in December 2017.

“There is no denial that Apple ecosystem isn’t aligned much to the usage and value of Indian users. So, the services offered don’t have flavors that would entice the Indian users,” Faisal Kawoosa, an analyst with research firm CMR India said. “At the same time, the typical segment buying Apple products isn’t that typical Indian user. But, no brand can afford to underserve a segment — big or small,” he added.

In addition to the issues with Apple services, iPhones are more expensive in India due to the country’s charge on imported electronics, further lowering sales volume in the country. Apple has begun to manufacture the iPhone SE locally in India to sell it cheaper, as well as allow retailers to reduce the price of older iPhones, but all other models remain expensive. The cheapest iPhone 8 costs Rs 66,120 ($1,040) and the cheapest iPhone X costs Rs 92,430 ($1,450).

Even as Apple attempted to gain market share with older and cheaper iPhone models, the company increased the prices of most of its newer iPhones sold in India following the Indian government’s decision to raise taxes on imported smartphones. In the wake of this, Apple appointed Michel Coulomb as lead of sales operations in India, with the aim to help Apple in its attempts to gain a bigger share of the country’s smartphone market and boost local manufacturing.

During Apple’s Q4 2017 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook likened the company’s current struggle in India to “the many years” it put into fostering growth in China. Cook said it’ll take time to see India meet up with China in this regard, and will come with building stores, building the developer ecosystem, and more. He finished by stating, “I feel like we’re making good progress there and are gaining understanding of the market. But we still have a long way to go, which I sort of see as an opportunity, instead of a problem.”

A senior Yemeni official has told Al Jazeera that southern separatists, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), seized control of a key military base in the coastal city of Aden, after a UAE fighter jet bombed the facility.

The official told Al Jazeera that fighters from the Southern Resistance Forces (SRF), the armed wing of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) – a political movement demanding secession for southern Yemen – seized the base early on Tuesday, despite a ceasefire being brokered by coalition partners Saudi Arabia and the UAE, hours earlier.

In a post on Twitter, Mukhtar al-Rahbi, an official in Yemen’s government, said: “A plane from the Arab coalition, that said it had come to support legitimacy [Yemen’s internationally recognised government] bombed the base of the Fourth Brigade. What a farce.”

Videos posted on social media showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the camp, which is located in Aden’s northern Dar Saad district.

الاسلحة الذي قصفها طيران التحالف داخل معسكر اللواء الرابع حماية رئاسية هي اسلحة من التحالف
التحالف مرتبك ولايوجد لديه رؤية واضحة
الحرب في اليمن تحولت الى حرب عبثية
لم يستهدف التحالف قيادي حوثي واحد من ثلاث سنوات

متى يفهم بائعي الوهم؟؟ pic.twitter.com/EsF1w4261k

— عباس الضالعي (@abbasaldhaleai) January 30, 2018

The seizure of the Fourth Brigade is the biggest gain for the separatists since fighting first erupted on Sunday.

A source in the city told Al Jazeera that the SRF had now gained control of most of Aden and fought their way to the gates of Al-Mashaiq Palace where Yemen’s government resides.

The source said that Prime Minister Ahmed Bin Daghr and several ministers remained inside the building and that the separatists had not seized the palace itself.

‘Refrain from further bloodshed’

Fighting in Aden first erupted on Sunday when the STC ordered President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to dismiss his prime minister and cabinet or face an overthrow.

The group accused Bin Daghr’s Aden-based government of “rampant corruption” resulting in a “deteriorating economic, security and social situation never before witnessed in the history of the south”.

Hadi, who has been living in Saudi Arabia for most of the war, rejected the ultimatum, describing the separatists’ actions as a “coup.”

The violence has killed at least 36 people and wounded 185 since Sunday, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The US State Department pressed for an end to the fighting late on Monday, calling on all parties to “refrain from escalation and further bloodshed.”

“We also call for dialogue among all parties in Aden to reach a political solution,” the statement said. “The Yemeni people are already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. Additional divisions and violence within Yemen will only increase their suffering.”

Deep divisions

Events in Aden have exposed deep divisions between Hadi’s government and the Saudi-UAE coalition.

The UAE entered Yemen’s war in March 2015 as part of a Saudi-led coalition seeking to roll back advances made by Houthi rebels after they overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Nearly three years on, the coalition has failed to achieve its stated aim of restoring the “legitimate” government of Hadi.

Saudi Arabia has said it “wants out” of the costly exercise, but the UAE has become more involved in the conflict, indicating a divide in the two countries’ agendas.

The UAE has financed and trained armed groups in the south who answer to it, and set up prisons and created a security establishment parallel to Hadi’s government, according to Human Rights Watch.

Drivers are required by law to report a serious accident by calling 999 or by attending a police station for more minor incidents. This needs to be done within 24 hours. By moving things online, it’s believed that the new process would make it easier for road users to file their report within that time, but also reduce the need for people to take time off work. Police forces wouldn’t need to spend time recording details at the counter (although this would still be available) freeing them up to tackle other crimes.

In addition to new driver-reporting tools, the Department for Transport will also provide police forces with a new Collision Reporting and Sharing System (CRASH) app that will be used to record accidents on scene. The app will reduce the time it takes to enter details of an incident and provide accurate locations via smartphone GPS.

The new plans, if supported, would not be forced upon police forces in England, Scotland and Wales. Instead, they would provide them with additional avenues to record accidents. If an online submission was deemed too troublesome, for instance, forces could decide to implement an automated telephone system instead. The government has already done away with the tax disc and scrapped paper counterpart for driving licences, shifting to more electronic systems.

“Current reporting arrangements still require these accidents to be reported by a driver in person at a police station or to a police officer. This does not reflect the 21st century capability to provide information in ways that better suit the citizen, and it ties up police time,” said Norman.

“As well as improving the service to the public, more efficient collection of accident data also holds out the possibility of more effective use of that data. By using themdata to establish trends, we will be able to develop better informed policy; highway authorities will be better able to think about road design; and the police will be better able to spot fraud.”

The consultation will run for twelve weeks and close on April 24th.

To begin with, the interface has been overhauled to make better use of screen space and make filenames easier to read, while an ellipsis button next to each item brings up a new contextual options menu, so users no longer need to long-press a file to take actions.

More generally, thumbnail images have been made larger, shared files are now easier to spot, and the multi-column list view on iPad has been redesigned to be less cluttered and give items and filenames more room to breathe. Another welcome enhancement in version 10.1 is expanded preview support for over 130 file types, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, RAW, 3D objects, high-precision DICOM, TIFF files, iWork Files, Java/C/Swift, and many more.

In addition, OneDrive now supports drag and drop, enabling users to drag files to emails and move them between open tabs on iPhone and iPad. Several iPhone X UI fixes are also in evidence, with the interface now displaying properly in landscape orientation, while a number of annoying bugs have been fixed, including one that made search results vanish whenever a file was opened.

OneDrive is a free download for iPhone and iPad available from the App Store. [Direct Link]