Apple has announced it is launching an all-new subscription service for business users, offering device management, support, and iCloud storage for a monthly fee for businesses with up to 500 employees.
Spread over three subscription plans, the new Apple Business Essentials service is available starting today in beta. The service is touted as being a complete solution that makes employee onboarding simple, allowing a small business to easily configure, deploy, and manage Apple products from anywhere.
Within Apple Business Essentials, Collections enable IT personnel to configure settings and apps for individual users, groups, or devices. IT managers can enforce critical security settings such as FileVault for full-disk encryption on Mac, and Activation Lock to protect devices that may be lost or stolen, with measures in place to ensure these can’t be switched off by employees.
“Small businesses are at the core of our economy, and we’re proud that Apple products play a role in helping these companies grow,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Enterprise and Education Marketing. “Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of employee device management within a small business — from setup, onboarding, and upgrading, to accessing fast service and prioritized support, all while keeping data backed up and secure, so companies can focus on running their business.”
Apple Business Essentials is available as a free beta starting today in the US. The service will be fully available in the spring of 2022. Prices start at $2.99 per device/mo for a single device plan, stretching to $6.99 per user/mo for the multi-device plan with 20GB of iCloud storage.