Running a small business on Apple hardware has always meant juggling a handful of separate tools that didn’t quite talk to each other. Apple Business, which launches today, is the attempt to fix that.
The new platform consolidates three previously separate tools – Business Manager, Business Essentials, and Business Connect – into one free service. If you were using any of those, your data has migrated automatically and the old products are gone.
The pitch is straightforward: Apple wants to be the easy option for small businesses that don’t have dedicated IT staff. The centrepiece is built-in device management – the ability to configure iPhones and iPads remotely, push apps to employees, and set security policies without touching each device individually. New hires can receive a pre-configured iPhone that’s ready to use straight out of the box. That kind of setup used to require third-party software or an IT department; Apple is making it a free, built-in option.
Also new is business email and calendar with your own domain name – a direct nudge at Google Workspace – plus better tools to manage how your business appears across Maps, Spotlight, and Safari. A paid option to run ads in Apple Maps is coming this summer in the US and Canada. For more details on everything that’s new, see Apple’s press release from last month.
Overall, Apple is trying to own the small business stack the same way it owns the consumer one – keep everything in-house, make it simple enough that you never need to look elsewhere.