Apple Announces 'Business Essentials' Service for Small Businesses

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced the debut of Apple Business Essentials, a new subscription-based service that will offer device management like setup and onboarding, iCloud storage, and optional 24/7 access to Apple Support for small businesses with up to 500 employees.

Apple Business Essentials will enable small businesses to easily configure, deploy, and manage Apple products from anywhere, and there will be an Apple Business Essentials app that employees can access to download corporate apps like Webex or Microsoft Word.

Within Apple Business Essentials, Collections enable IT personnel to configure settings and apps for individual users, groups, or devices. When employees sign in to their corporate or personally owned device with their work credentials, Collections automatically push settings such as VPN configurations and Wi-Fi passwords. In addition, Collections will install the new Apple Business Essentials app on each employee’s home screen, where they can download corporate apps assigned to them, such as Cisco Webex or Microsoft Word.

Apple Business Essentials is available today as a free beta for small businesses in the U.S. with up to 500 employees, and the service will be fully available in spring 2022. Pricing will range from $2.99 per user per month to $12.99 per user per month depending on the number of devices and the amount of iCloud storage each user needs.

There will be an option to add AppleCare+ to an Apple Business Essentials plan starting in spring 2022, and this will provide 24/7 access to Apple Support by phone, training for both IT administrators and employees, and up to two device repairs per plan each year. Employees will be able to initiate repairs directly from the Apple Business Essentials app, and an Apple-trained technician can arrive on site in as little as four hours.

Small businesses can sign up for Apple Business Essentials on Apple's website.

Article Link: Apple Announces 'Business Essentials' Service for Small Businesses

 

[SaxPlayer]

Sounds interesting. I'm in the UK so will wait and see if/when this arrives over here.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Good for the businesses. It seems like it’s going to be very seamless

All set up in one.

Service revenue 🆙

 

[DHagan4755]

Looks like this might be fruits from the Fleetsmith acquisition last year. This is badly needed. As good as JAMF is, the fact that Apple hasn't itself provided management on par with Google or Microsoft has been an Achille's heel in enterprise/education. I expect it to grow & expand beyond 500 employees.

 

[Bull 07]

Where the leakers were

 

[Jeaz]

It's strange it's taken them this long to do something like this. The iCloud/iWork suite has a lot of benefits for a small business but there's been very little support from Apple on this. With iCloud Mail, iWork and FaceTime you have a quite decent productivity suite within the Apple Eco System. Hopefully this brings even more focus to iWork apps for collaboration and other features.

I do find it unclear wether or not this includes e-mail accounts. One would have thought the whole custom domain iCloud+ service was sort of a soft launch for this.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Where the leakers were

No more leaks. They’re not saying anything anymore. 😂 I’m also surprised Mark Gurman did not mention or know about this.

We got leaks like this now…

https://twitter.com/x/status/1457829177068081154

 

[PsykX]

It's time for Apple to be serious about businesses. They have a few advantages of course, like less IT costs, easy AI models development, etc. but they need to develop more Pro Tools ASAP.

Thinking of a better iWork suite, a collaborative work environment equivalent to Teams, and equivalent to Power tools from Microsoft (Power BI, Power Automate, Power Query, Power Pivot...). And in a place where Access is dying, they need to push FileMaker more. Microsoft has such an edge on Apple in the business world, it's not even funny.

 

[TriBruin]

This is interesting and I am curious to see where this goes. This isn't designed to replace Jamf Pro or Workspace One, but it aimed directly at Jamf Now, Kandji, and Mosyle. These are products that cater to the SMB market (although larger organizations use these too.)

It is interesting that Apple is going to bundle Management and support. I would love to see more of the product, even though I have intention of moving our organization away from Jamf. (And we are well over the Maximum unit restriction, even before discussing iPhones.)

 

[Spock]

So is Apple in the process of Sherlocking JAMF??

 

[mozumder]

Does this include Email service with business domains? And does it work with Windows PCs as well?

 

[BWhaler]

No more leaks. They’re not saying anything anymore. ? I’m also surprised Mark Gurman did not mention or know about this.

We got leaks like this now…

https://twitter.com/x/status/1457829177068081154

I generally think Prosser is a total clown and completely lies about his “leaks", but his post is spot on: Apple’s software is getting comically low quality. I can’t believe their competitors aren’t attacking this vector: sure, fast chips, but totally unreliable software.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I generally think Poser is a total clown, but this post is spot on: Apple’s software is getting comically low quality. I can’t believe their competitors aren’t attacking this vector: sure, fast chips, unusable software.

I agree. Hopefully there is better communication that takes in place between the software and hardware team. Maybe Apple employees working from home has to do with it? There is a lot of lack of communication going on.

 

[satchmo]

It's strange it's taken them this long to do something like this. The iCloud/iWork suite has a lot of benefits for a small business but there's been very little support from Apple on this. With iCloud Mail, iWork and FaceTime you have a quite decent productivity suite within the Apple Eco System. Hopefully this brings even more focus to iWork apps for collaboration and other features.

I do find it unclear wether or not this includes e-mail accounts. One would have thought the whole custom domain iCloud+ service was sort of a soft launch for this.

This is such a long overdue service, considering small businesses basically drive the economy.

While this can scale up to as many as 500 employees, the majority of small businesses are much smaller. I think the key will be pricing for the small 10-20 person shop.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Wow looks awesome….making IT easy. So this basically looks like Cloud Computing for small businesses. It’s got everything an IT dept needs.

 

[GLS]

So is Apple in the process of Sherlocking JAMF??

If Apple starts to roll this out to K-12's for free for as many users as you want, then I'd say you are on the right track.

Google's chromebook management is Exhibit 1 of why K-12's have embraced chromebooks, not because of the price of the iPads.

 

[velcrovan]

I wonder whether/how much this overlaps with Intune.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Where the leakers were

It’s a lot easier to leak hardware, which involves several companies, several manufacturers, several countries and millions and millions of units, then it is to leak software, which just involves Apple.
Same reason you’ll probably hear tons and tons about the iPhone 14 leading up to it, but absolutely nothing or very very little about iOS 16

 

[apparatchik]

500 employees is a Small Business for Apple? it makes sense lol

 

[Macintosh TV]

Super smart move by Apple. Get in with businesses services is huge. First you tie them to your products and then they use your products at work and it leads to greater chance they'll buy them at home.

Pricing seems to be great too. Provide it at a low cost, knowing it'll cause them to buy more of your devices, where you can increase sales.

 

[svish]

Apple is definitely increasing its services revenue. This 'Business Essentials' seems to be good for small businesses

 

[BarredOwl]

So is Apple in the process of Sherlocking JAMF??

As a Jamf Pro Customer, I'm wondering the same thing and want to see where this goes. So I signed our company up.

Ultimately, I'd like my Macs and iOS devices to have all the tools of Jamf Pro, Wandera (a VPN Co. acquired by Jamf) plus other security options built right into the OSes.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Employees will be able to initiate repairs directly from the Apple Business Essentials app, and an Apple-trained technician can arrive on site in as little as four hours.

This is what Apple has needed for years. It's good to see that they're finally coming around to the fact that businesses can't be without a computer for an indefinite amount of time, and I think this will cause small businesses to finally look into adopting Apple.

This is going to be Microsoft's biggest challenge.

 

[TriBruin]

So is Apple in the process of Sherlocking JAMF??

Possibly. Right now, Jamf Pro and Apple Business Essentials don't really compete. But, if Apple expands the program in a few years, they could.

 

[boss.king]

500 employees is a Small Business for Apple? it makes sense lol

From Google:

What Is the Definition of a Small Business?​

The answer varies by industry, but a small business is one that has fewer than 1,500 employees and a maximum of $38.5 million in average annual receipts, according to the SBA.