Apple has released a new subscription service aimed at small-businesses to help manage their devices. The service will make it easier for the business to easily keep the Apple devices used by the employees in check. The service has been named ‘Business Essentials’ – similar services are already offered by companies such as Microsoft and VMware.
Business management services offered by other companies are usually aimed at large businesses with thousands of people. However, in the case of Apple, the newly launched service is aimed at businesses that operate with 50 to 500 employees. The small business could have an IT team or not.
Pricing based on number of employees & cloud storage
The ‘Business Essentials’ service by Apple will be priced between $2.99 and $12.99 (USD) per month. The pricing will of course depend on the number of people (employees) working for the small business. The plan pricing will also take into account the cloud storage required by the business.
“Time is of the essence – for small businesses, it’s one of their most valuable resources,”said Apple’s vice president of enterprise and education marketing Susan Prescott, to Reuters in an interview. “As they start to grow, there are more demands on their time. And that can be in lieu of running the business doing the things they need to do.”
“People are going to think that part doesn’t matter, but I think they’re underestimating the power of being able to get really good service,” said Maribel Lopez, founder of Lopez Research who is also an analyst at the same firm. She added that the combination of offering a repair service subscription along with management software is truly unique.
The iPhone maker will start testing the new ‘Business Essentials’ service starting Wednesday (17 November) in the United States. The service will remain free until next year when it is scheduled to release fully.
