Big tech giant Apple officially launched a Business Essentials package yesterday, with the beta version that was only available to a select few businesses becoming accessible to all.
This will help business owners that supply Apple products for their team to push out updates to multiple employees’ devices at once, and aid with other tasks like the mass configuration of VPNs for a team.
This isn’t hardware-reliant Apple’s first foray into the world of services, but it is one of the most significant – a business product with broad application that could be the first of many.
What Does Apple’s Business Essentials Offer?
Business Essentials, for the large part, is designed to give small business owners the ability to deploy a fleet of Apple products, such as iPhones and iPads, while retaining administrative control over all of the technology.
Apple has three tiers – single device, multi-device, and multi-device + storage, and you can purchase any tier with additional AppleCare credits and coverage for an extra free.
CNBC reports that the Business Essentials Package “allows a boss or a system administrator to install corporate apps, set passcode policies, track or shut down a lost phone or laptop and provide access to cloud storage.”
Apple has emphasized that this package is not a direct competitor to apps like Google Workspace – in fact, Business Essentials will integrate with it, as well as Microsoft Azure – but it’s instead geared towards small businesses without IT departments.
Apple Muscles Into the Services Space
Apple is, of course, one of the most valuable and well-funded companies to ever be created, and historically, investors have flocked to the tech company that can seemingly do no wrong.
But now, investors want consistent, predictable revenue, something which can’t be obtained via the seasonal nature of hardware releases.
So, it’s not at all surprising to see Apple try to move away from a huge reliance on hardware sales and try its hand at more kinds of subscription packages. Apple’s services arm grew 27% in 2021 and is now worth 68.4 billion, thanks to services like Fitness+.
Do You Need Apple Business Essentials?
If your employees are primarily using Apple products to conduct business, then Business Essentials could save you valuable time and money.
Although it costs a small amount each month, the support you’ll get from Apple – as well as the ability to install apps onto staff phones – could make it well worth the expenditure.
Plus, if you already use applications like Google Workspace, both setting it up and subsequently using it will be much, much smoother.
