Apple’s all-new Apple Business platform is expected to launch as a free service in the US and 200 other countries starting today. It’s the go-to platform for small business seeking better management tools for their Apple tech and a great accompaniment to the millions migrating to the Mac with MacBook Neo.

What is Apple Business

Apple Business combines three previous business-related Apple services: Apple Business Connect, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Essentials. 

What you get:

• Managed Apple accounts that separate private and company data with an identity service provider.
• The ability to configure employee and/or employee group hardware.
• Mobile Device Management tools to manage Mac, iPhone, and iPad settings and security.
• Tools to manage and deploy apps and settings using Blueprints and the App Store.
• Zero-touch deployment of new hardware.
• Brand management tools — include your business logo across Maps, Wallet, Mail and other Apple services.
• API-level automation access for larger businesses.

This is particularly useful to small business customers who can now manage their devices, including app deployment, and — for a fee — agree to an AppleCare+ for Business package to protect their tech. Prices start at $6.99 per month, per user for up to three devices. 

But there’s another string to this bow, based around location and business identity.

Apple’s new local advertising business

Apple Business also sees the company begin to muscle in on the market for paid local discovery advertising, with tools to make it very easy for small business users to place such ads via their Apple Business account. 

The way this works is that an enterprise verified by Apple Business can bid for ad placements that will subsequently appear in search results or within suggested locations. The offer goes a little further: you can also create professional communications and online location ads using domain names, built in email, calendar and other services. 

These ads are supported by other aspects of Apple Business. For example, a company can select images, special offers, contact details, and more and make this information available via its placeholder in Maps. It can then deploy highly targeted local ad dollars to attract potential customers to the listing.

These new services matter, given that Apple has over 1 billion active devices and the ads can be booked via Maps, Siri, and Spotlight. Apple is currently testing ads in Maps in the second beta of iOS 26.5.

While it’s arguable that the last thing anyone really wants is ads in Maps, particularly as these will inevitably populate part of the user experience for future visionOS devices, you can’t argue that ads in Maps won’t be a good business for Apple given the number of customers it has. 

Polaris Market Research tells us the global location-based advertising market was worth around $110 billion in 2023 and is forecast to hit $387 billion by 2032. Apple’s 1 billion active users mean the company has a good opportunity to grab some of that market on the basis of its commitment to privacy, which not every location-based ad service provides. Apple says ad information is not linked to an Apple Account, and promises no data is collected by the company or shared with third parties.

So, at no consequential cost to the privacy of their own customers or potential customers, many small businesses worldwide will be able to reach people using ads in Maps (unless they happen to be in South Lebanon). The bad news? There is no way to opt-out of these ads, at least not yet.

What you must do now

While existing users will be automatically migrated to the new platform, if you already use Apple Business Manager, you will be asked to agree to new terms and conditions when you first login to your account once the service goes live. If you’re an existing user, it’s important to do this as soon as you can to help ensure you don’t experience any issues with automated device enrollment. 

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